The Runaways
by StarKnight2.0
Summary: Post S2 of Rick & Morty. S1 of Steven Universe. Steven and Co encounter a strange man named Rick Sanchez, who has a secret and an agenda. Soon, Steven, the gems and Rick get swept up in a war for the earth against not only the Gem Homeworld but also a whole slew of new enemies that can come from anywhere and be anyone.
1. Pt 1: Encounters

**(a/n: Hello folks! This is just a little one shot story, i hope you like it. Takes place after season 2 of Rick and Morty. Just a little theory/story of how things could go down when Rick escapes prison. I'm not a fan of Steven Universe, but the show gave me an idea or two that led to this story. Enjoy!)**

* * *

The Runaways

Steven awoke with a start. He was having a very pleasant dream, when a loud crash and a violent shake awoke him.

The young boy sat up and looked around. Everything looked fine and nothing looked out of place. The window was open and allowed a gentle breeze to roll in from the ocean. Nothing seemed to be wrong, but Steven couldn't help but shake this feeling that something is out of place.

There was another loud crash, followed by an earsplitting scream and a string of curses.

The young boy scrambled out of bed and went to the window. Out on the beach was a miniature battlefield. The white sand was littered by huge chunks of burnt, twisted metal and humans-sized insect bodies.

Down in the water was a man with wild, blue-grey hair and a lab coat, fending off a thrashing swarm of gigantic tentacles, armed only with what looked like a futuristic spear.

Steven watched in amazement as the tentacles lunged at the man. The man swore loudly and he ducked one that went for his head and rolled away from another. He jumped over another tentacle and he plunged the spear into a nearby one. An unearthly shriek exploded and in a blur of motion, the creature swiped the spear out of the man's hands and lashed out at him. The tentacle knocked him out of the water and onto the beach.

The man groaned aloud and managed to get back up.

The creature in the water emerged, revealing a horrific being that looked like a cross between a squid and a plant. The strange man brushed sand off of his clothes and he searched around for a weapon but found nothing. He swore loudly and he turned to face the monstrous squid, as it pulled itself closer to the shore.

As the creature drew close, Steven heard the man bellow at the squid "Well come on then! Co*burp*me on! Take your best shot!"

Steven's eyes widened in shock, What was this man doing? Was he really going to take on this squid by himself. He's going to get himself killed.

Steven had to do something. Without really thinking, Steven made a decision that would alter the course of his life. He bolted out of his room, out the door and sprinted down the beach as quick as he could. His heart hammered away like a beating drum and he poured all the energy he can into his shield and the energy construct appeared.

Steven forced more energy into it and the shield's size until it was big enough to cover the strange man and himself. The squid hurled its tentacles at the man in the lab coat and Steven launched himself forward with all his might.

The young boy rolled and he managed to position himself between the man and the squid, just in time as the huge tentacles crashed against his shield. The force of the crash sent Steven staggering backwards but he kept his shield up and held the tentacles at bay.

"What the hell?" exclaimed the man standing behind Steven.

Steven glanced over his shoulder to the man "Don't worry, I'm here to help"

The man looked a little taken aback but he managed to stammer out "U-uh, t-th*burp*anks kid but I'm afraid you're a little out of your weight class here".

Steven frowned in confusion "Huh?" before the man could answer, a tentacle managed to find an opening and sweep Steven's feet out from under him. The shield dropped and Steven was suddenly one tentacle pulled him into the air and hung him upside down. He felt the blood rush to his head.

The man stood there on the beach looking like a bat, staring at him and standing all upside down.

"I apprecieate the effort kid" said the man, his hand slipping into his coat pocket "But this is a Kinorio flesh eating squid, one of the many attack dogs that the Federation unleashes on those who piss them off. Or don't pay their taxes. Usually the latter or some other freaky crap they usually are up to." He drew a futuristic pistol that looked like a ray gun that Steven saw in an old science fiction movie a while back.

The man took aim and fired off a few bursts of dark green energy. The energy bursts burned away some of the tentacles and a few struck the squid square in the face. One went flying, narrowly missing Steven's face.

"Whoa!" exclaimed Steven "Watch it!" "Oops, sorry!" said the man, wincing a little, "I'm a scientist, not a freaking s*burp*sniper and I haven't been completely sober in like, twenty years". He squinted and aimed his weapon and fired another few shots.

Some went flying and missed, but one managed to burn away the tentacle holding Steven's ankle.

Steven fell and landed with a thud on the sand. There was a brief wave of pain and dizziness that rushed through Steven. He could hear the squid scream in pain and he could see more bursts of energy sailing over him and tentacles cut and burned by the man's weapon.

Fighting the dizziness, Steven got onto his knees and managed to stand up. The man appeared at his side, firing continuously at the screaming creature. Flesh sizzled and burned, the air became polluted with more screams and the scent of burnt squid.

Just when it looked like the squid was beat, the man's gun died with a hiss and a small puff of a steam cloud.

The man looked at his weapon "Crap". A small metal cartridge dropped out of the handle of the gun and the man moved to feed another into the gun. The gun and extra cartridge were sent flying out of his hands by one of the remaining tentacles.

"Double crap".

With a deep growl and a bit of exertion, new tentacles sprang forth from the stumps of the burnt and ruined ones. The alien squid lunged and entangled Steven and the stranger in its tentacles and pulled them off the shore and brought them close, until they were both staring the large creature in the eye.

"Triple crap" said the man.

Steven wriggled and kicked furiously, trying everything within his power to escape.

Unfortunately, the squid held on to them. The creature snarled and opened its mouth, revealing rows upon rows of razor sharp teeth and a foul breath that was heavy with the scent of rotted flesh and fish.

"What do we do?" cried Steven.

The man thought for a moment then shrugged "I-I don't know kid. Sorry, but these squids have a very high kill rate and I'm kinda stumped here" he smiled a little "On the bright side, its only going to strip us of our flesh and eat us."

Steven frowned "That's a good thing?"

The man nodded solemnly "Oh yeah trust me, th*urp*is is the better out come. The alternative…well, it suffices to say that you would need to be at least in high school for me to continue this discussion".

Steven frowned in confusion but his thoughts were returned to the current time. Fear flooded the young boy and he felt trapped.

"Well, it was nice knowing ya kid" said the man, grimly. He sighed deeply, closed his eyes, muttering something under his breath that sounded like a prayer. The man then bellowed at the squid "Well come on you mother f-" but his words were interrupted when suddenly the two found themselves plummeting into the ocean. Just when there were about to be swallowed up, the two of them ended up being dropped on the shore.

It happened so fast that Steven blinked and missed it. He looked and saw, to his joy, that Pearl, Garnet and Amethyst engaging the monstrous squid in combat.

"Wahoo! Yeah!" cried Steven

"Wha-What is it? What happened?" asked the man, who had his eyes shut.

"We're saved!" said Steven.

The man opened his eyes and was relieved to see that the flesh-eating beast didn't consume him. "Yeah! Suck it Thrax from cell group theta!" crowed the man triumphantly. He hooted with laughter and hollered to the sky joyfully, "That d-bag now owes me thirty thousand flurbos!"

"Steven!" shouted a familiar voice.

Steven looked and saw his father, Greg, rushing to his side. "Dad!" exclaimed Steven.

"I came as quick as I could" said his dad "I saw the spaceship crash and all the explosions and I thought that you might be in danger"

"Its ok" assured Steven "Pearl, Garnet and Amethyst got this"

"You sure?" cut in the man as he threw off the chunk of tentacle that still clung to the both of them. He got up and observed the battle carefully. The crystal gems bombarded the squid simultaneously with their attacks. The squid squealed in anger and lashed out, knocking Garnet aside and catching Pearl. Using Pearl, the squid chucked her and sent her crashing into Amethyst.

The man frowned "Looks like the mod squad is getting their collective asses kicked"

Steven's father frowned at the stranger "Who are you?"

"I'm Rick Sanchez," said the man coolly "And I'm the guy who's going to take care of business". He turned and jogged over to the wreckage and began sifting through the charred and blackened bits of metal. Steven and his dad shared a look and followed suit.

Rick dug through the slag and sand muttering, "come on, come on, be here…" until finally, after a few long minutes, Rick exclaimed, "Yes!"

Steven and his dad looked and saw that the strange man found a long, skinny metal box, half buried under some sand, metal and burnt insect corpses. He pulled it up and brushed sand and slag off of the lid chuckling "Oh baby, come to papa".

Rick clicked open the case and threw the lid open, revealing a sleek, green weapon that looked like a bazooka to Steven.

"What is it?" asked Steven, eyeing the weapon curiously. "A standard issue Federation antimatter cannon" said Rick, caressing the weapon almost lovingly "I used this baby and sold a few back in the day. You'd be surprised how much people would pay for this hot ticket item". Steven's father gave Rick an odd look but the lab coat wearing man didn't notice.

Rick pulled the weapon out of the case and flipped a switch and pressed a button on the side of the long, green cylinder. The weapon purred and hummed to life, which made Rick grin broadly. He knelt down and took up a firing position.

"On the count of three, tell your Power Ranger friends to get out of the way" instructed Rick "or else they'll be caught in the blast. Got it?"

Steven nodded.

Rick took aim and gazed down the sight. The squid was thrashing around wildly but kept a relatively stationary position. A beep sounded, indicating that the target was locked.

Rick took a deep breath "One…two…*burp*three!"

"Get out of the way!" cried Steven. The crystal gems looked at Steven and saw Rick kneeling there with the antimatter cannon. Without being told twice, the gems disengaged the squid and fled. "Smile, you son of a bitch!" growled Rick, as he pulled the trigger.

Time seemed to have stood still for a moment. Then everything seemed to speed up instantly. A blast of blinding light erupted from the cannon and struck the target dead center. The squid's screams died instantly and the light faded as quickly as it appeared.

Steven and his father rubbed their eyes and blinked away the spots in their vision. The squid was gone. There were no traces of it left, as if it had just vanished into thin air.

For a good moment there was nothing but the sound of the waves rolling ashore.

After the long moment of silence, Rick got to his feet and nodded in approval. "And that's the waaaaay the news goes!" declared Rick.

Steven and his father gave Rick an odd look.

Rick noted their looks and explained, "Thought I'd try out a new catch phrase, so far I'm thinking of sticking with 'Wubba Lubba dub dub'".

Rick returned the antimatter cannon to its case and set it aside. He scratched his chin and thought for a moment, murmuring under his breath then his eyes widened "Oh crap!" exclaimed Rick. He rushed away from Steven and Greg and started digging hastily through the denser part of the wreckage of metal.

As he dug madly through the metal, corpses and sand, Steven and his dad were joined by Garnet, Amethyst, and Pearl. They showed relief at Steven's safety and scolded him for recklessly trying to fight a monster like the squid on his own.

"Why in the world would you do that, Steven?" said Pearl, concerned. Steven nodded to Rick "Because he was in trouble".

The crystal gems looked at the man in the lab coat as he dug around the wreckage mad dog. "Who is he?" asked Garnet.

Steven shrugged "I don't know. He said his name is Rick". He squinted a little "He kinda looks like a scientist".

Greg frowned and scanned the wreckage of twisted metal and charred bodies.

"Maybe…maybe not" murmured Greg, shivering a little. Pearl nodded in agreement. Something about this Rick fellow didn't sit right with the gems or with Steven's father, but Steven thought otherwise. He watched Rick overturn a large block of metal and looked disappointed.

The man's white coat flapped in the gentle breeze like a cape, revealing a dark blue outfit trimmed with gold, which reminded him of a military officer or a soldier. Maybe Rick was a soldier or something and he was attacked by a bunch of monsters.

It was obvious, judging from his knowledge of the squid and of the weapon, the way he handled himself, Rick was a fighter of sorts.

Whoever he was, Steven thought Rick was one cool, mysterious dude and the young boy made it his mission to be cool like him.

* * *

Rick continued his search until he found what he was looking for. Half buried under some burnt gromflomites, was a familiar unmoving form.

"Oh God, Grom" muttered Rick. He pulled the blackened form of his partner out from underneath the pile of bodies, to see the damage. The mechanoid's legs were gone, loose wires, servos and bits of metal poked out. His arms were bent out of shape and hung uselessly at his sides. The mechanoid was clad in a similar, but ruined, uniform as he was covered in black soot and thousands of small holes.

His face was the only thing that had the least damage. His green hair was wild and spiked; his metallic green skin gleamed faintly in the starlight under the thin layer of sand and soot, even his pointy ears were barely scuffed.

"Damn it, come on Grom" said Rick "Don't you wuss out on me now. We made it this far didn't we? Come on!" he shook the mechanoid softly at first, then he should harder. The mechanoid was unmoving. The old scientist slammed his fist on the mechanoid's chest, hoping to trigger some of his internal workings.

Still nothing.

After a few more long moments of fruitless shaking and hitting, Rick gave up. Sighing with defeat, he reached into his coat and withdrew his trusty flask.

As he took a pull from his flask, he took quick stock of his life.

It had been year, at least it felt like a year, since Rick turned himself into the Galactic Federation. They locked him up in one of the toughest prisons in the galaxy and it actually felt like he was going to get stuck for a while, at least until the incident.

One day in the max security cafeteria, Rick suddenly snapped. He didn't know what it was, whether it was the crappy elevator music they played non-stop over the PA system or whether it was the constant crap he had to put up with, Rick couldn't remember. All he knew was that he had to get the hell out of dodge.

It took some careful planning, lots of wheeling and dealing and even some begging and bribing a lot of people but, Rick managed to secure a way out.

Grom, short for Gromulius, was a mechanoid who shared a table and had worked together to pull off their daring escape. Actually, working together was rather nice term. Rick actually used Grom as his personal assistant, bodyguard and verbal punching bag.

The mechanoid proved useful in handling any unruly prisoners who tried to eat Rick or sell him out.

Ruthless as he was, Rick learned that Grom was rather naïve. Probably because that he was originally programmed to be a translator-slash-tour guide at an amusement park but some sketchy weapon masters turned him into a sleeper cell assassin who could go from pleasant to brutal faster than someone could blink or call for help.

After swiping some Federation officer uniforms, tying up loose ends and breaking free from confinement, the two hijacked a transport and escaped.

Rick was able to jury-rig a portal engine to slip into a random dimension to lose the cops but the engine was badly damaged in the escape and had only one good jump left in it.

Desperate, they jumped. Fortunately, it worked and their atoms weren't scattered across the infinite expanse of the multiverse. Unfortunately, some of the Federation security ships got some gromflomite troopers aboard. Which led to the crash and the escape of the vicious squid from the cargo hold.

Rick was lucky to have the kid and the circus rejects to bail him out. He sniffed "Ya know, Grom, I…I didn't really want to say this but…you were a really good guy. You were…my only pal in that godforsaken place".

Rick's tired eyes began to water "The Federation, those bastards…they just keep taking everything from me: Birdman, Squanchy, my family and now you…poor little Grom". Tears began to flow down his cheeks and his voice broke "Damn it, Grom! Why did you have to die! Why couldn't it have been me? You lucky bastard!"

"Rick?" said a soft voice

"Why God?" screamed Rick to the sky "Why did you have to take him? He's just a kid! A stupid kid, yes b-but he's just a kid!"

"Mr. Sanchez"

"Damn it!" Rick hugged the mechanoid close to him and he looked down and stopped his lamenting.

The mechanoid stared up at him in confusion. "Mr. Sanchez?" asked Grom "What are you doing?"

"Wha?" said Rick, dumbfounded. The mechanoid's single eye blinked a few times then asked "How may I be of assistance to you today, Mr. Sanchez?"

"First of all, you can forget that this ever happened, or else I'll kill you for real this time, you little piece of shit" growled Rick, "Second of all, I need you to shut up and follow my lead"

"How so?"

"Just shut up and observe. We got company"

"Oh?" said Grom, his eye swiveled and locked on the approaching newcomers. "Shall I take care them?"

"No" said Rick "Just wait for a little bit. I think the yokels of this dimension may be our ticket out of here".

* * *

Steven, his father and the crystal gems reached Rick and a rather beaten and wounded form and they looked at them in shock. It looked like a man, his face was fine, covered with some soot but his arms were twisted and bent oddly and his legs were gone.

His face looked human but was colored a shade of green and he one of his eyes was cybernetic thing that looked like a sniper scope. Based on the injuries and bits of wire sticking out of him, Steven guessed that he was an android of sorts.

Pearl covered her mouth in shock "Oh my!" she knelt down beside the twisted form and inspected the damage. "Are you…ok? Are you in any pain?"

"No, I am not" answered the robot, politely.

"Who are you?" asked Steven "Are you a robot?"

The robot bowed his head a little "I am Gromulus, mechanoid model X-401 of the Ru'al Corporation, located in the heart of the beautiful-"

"Yeah, yeah and I'm Stannis Baratheon, first of my name, Lord of the Outhouse, blah, blah" muttered the man named Rick, impatiently "Save us the monologue will you, Robocop".

The three crystal gems gazed at the battered android and then to the rogue scientist with suspicion. After a few heartbeats worth of silence, Garnet asked, "Just who are you two?"

"I'm Rick" said Rick, rising to his feet. He nudged Gromulus with his boot "This chatter box is my mechanoid…sla-,uh,assistant, Grom. Long story short, we're kinda stuck here and we're not looking for trouble. Just point us towards the nearest motel and late night taco joint and we'll be good to go"

"Wait a moment, you can't just go" said Steven "Your friend is hurt and what if more another squid shows up or something?"

"Steven" said Pearl, in an almost warning tone.

Rick gave Steven a serious look "Look kid, I appreciate the help but you can't help us. The people we're up against are not nice guys. They'll leave you alone, just as long as you don't get involved. They do not mess around." He smiled "Besides, Grom here is a mechanoid, he'll be fine"

"Actually, several of my key systems are in critical condition" said Grom " and I'm afraid there is some serious damage done to my core-" his tangent stopped immediately when Rick nudged the mechanoid in the side.

Pearl folded her arms "Mechanoid or not, it looks like neither of you are in any shape to do anything at the moment".

Rick sighed a little "Yeah, I guess".

"Just who are they?" asked Steven's father "These guy's you're running from?"

Rick scowled "Like I said, a very bad crowd, who'll make your lives a living hell if you cross them".

Steven folded his arms "Well I don't care" Everyone looked at him in surprise "Steven!" exclaimed Pearl, shocked.

Rick looked at Steven in surprise then it turned into something that resembled admiration.

"Look, you need a place to stay right?" asked Steven.

Rick scratched the back of his head "Uh, well…" "Well we got an extra room if you would like a place to stay" said Steven.

Steven's family was taken aback. Noting their surprised expressions, he added, "If, you know, want to or not…"

Rick tapped his lower lip for a moment "Well…I guess so." He looked to the three gems "That is, if the Sailor Moon squad doesn't mind?"

Garnet, Amethyst and Pearl shared a look and thought for a moment. "Well…I don't know" began Pearl. She glanced sideways at Steven, who looked up at her with big, puppy dog eyes. For a moment she just stared back at him but the pleading look in his eyes seemed to intensify and eventually her defenses crumbled.

"Alright, fine" grumbled Pearl "You can stay-"

"Wahoo!" cried Steven "-for the night" finished the gem.

Rick looked relieved "No problem. I'll be out of your hair in no time. I'll patch Grom up and we'll be back on the open road in no time"

"After we have consumed all of your alcohol and taken all of your valu-" began Grom but Rick nudged the mechanoid on the side of the head sharply, shutting him up instantly again. A broad, innocent smile appeared on Rick's face.

Greg and the gems relaxed a little, although they still harbored an cold, creepy feeling in the back of their minds.

Steven on the other hand, was ecstatic to have a cool new friend staying over for the night.

* * *

On the other hand, Rick was relieved and made a mental note to tweak Grom's processors so that he doesn't go blabbing something important, or something stupid, during their stay.

But it didn't matter, Rick was free as a bird and pretty soon, he'll be hitting the ol dusty trail and be home again in no time.

In the meantime, the rogue scientist began plotting out his escape plan and even came up with a few little things that could getting the Federation off of his back, and it all involved the three strange creatures who saved Rick and Steven.

* * *

Watching from the shadows, on a small outcropping overlooking the beach stood a tall, slim armored figure.

Clad in jet-black armor, a helmet with a smooth, shiny visor masking the wearers face completely, the silent observer watched as his prey chattered with some of the locals. The human, Rick Sanchez, and the mechanoid, Grom, were still alive and breathing.

They had indeed lost most of the Federation troopers in the crash, but not all. This armored creature was no ordinary trooper.

He was what was called a 'Fixer', one of several, employed by the Federation to fix things.

Which is why the prison that Sanchez was locked up in was so feared.

Many enter, few attempt escape and even a fewer catch a breath of freedom. Even if they become free, not a single prisoner was able to remain free for long.

Most of them either ended up dead or returned to the prison in no time.

The Fixer continued watching his targets from above, then as the small group of this dimension's natives helped Rick carry his mechanoid enforcer away from the wreckage, the Fixer faded into thin air like a phantom as it started its internal clock, signifying that its retrieval mission has just begun.

The End?

* * *

 **(a/n: So, what do you think? Well, that's it. This is just a little one shot and i'm not going to update it...maybe. I may add more, at least two more parts but if i do, it will be in the future. Also, the term Mechanoid comes from the series Red Dwarf. Anyway, please review and hoped you enjoyed it.)**


	2. Pt 2: Guy

**(a/n: Well, here we go. I hope you enjoy this. I tried to keep this in character for both shows and all. Enjoy!)**

* * *

Part 2: Guys Night Out

Pearl regretted allowing Rick Sanchez stay with them.

The slender gem watched as the blue-grey haired man stroll through the kitchen and into the living room, carrying a cardboard box full of electronics, small power tools, wires and kitchen utensils. Steven, Pearl and Amethyst watched with interest as Rick placed the box on the coffee table and started to dig through it.

After a few moments, Rick pulled out a power drill and a small square of grey metal. He set them aside and reached into the box and pulled out the head of his mechanoid companion, Grom. The mechanoid looked blank and emotionless. Rick held Grom's head up for inspection and then pulled out a pair tweezers.

Just as he began work, the scientist stopped and he glanced sideways, noticing his audience. "Can I help you with something?" asked Rick, irritably.

Steven shook his head. "Don't mind us, we just wanted to watch" said Steven innocently "I've never seen a real cool robot like Grom before."

The older man shrugged "Whatever, just don't touch my box. Took me forever to find this stuff."

Amethyst peered into the box "What is this stuff? It looks like junk?"

"It is" growled Rick, pulling the box away from the purple gem "But if you're as smart as I am, you can MacGyver anything from a box of crap, including a quick patch for mechanoid bodies".

Pearl looked at Grom's head. The mechanoid's head sat lazily in Rick's hand, looking utterly bored. Rick turned his attention back to the severed head and began his work. Pearl shivered a little. This was a new experience. Grom was not an actual living, breathing creature but it was still uncomfortable watching Rick poke, prod and disassemble and reassemble his friend over the last few days.

Although they agreed to let Rick stay the night, it was soon discovered that there were complications.

Rick could fix his friend Grom. Unfortunately, he didn't have the right parts and he was stranded in their "universe".

Pearl remembered Rick explaining that he and Grom were from a parallel universe, which was like theirs yet not. She considers herself an intelligent gem but even she had some trouble wrapping her mind around the concept of different universes. To this day, Pearl is still trying to understand how such a concept is possible.

After some deliberation, the gems and Greg allowed Rick and Grom an extended stay in the house, on the concession that one of the gems or Greg stayed in the house with Steven. Rick didn't care. The scientist shrugged and asked them to stay out of his way as he made repairs.

He scavenged the wreckage of the ship he arrived in, effectively cleaning up the beach in the process. Once he picked the ruins clean, Rick shopped around the local hardware store and the pawnshop in search of some cheap parts and technology.

During that time, Pearl grew more desperate to get rid of Rick. Steven followed the man around like an Earth puppy, watching with fascination the man's every action. Amethyst took a liking to Rick. She played an occasional prank on the scientist but he would grumble about it and had even threatened her once.

Garnet was silent in her observation of Rick Sanchez but Pearl could tell that she was on Pearl's side. Greg was suspicious of Rick at first but after a few days, the two bonded over some drinks and somehow became friends. For the past few days, Pearl tried to find a single reason for Rick to leave but she couldn't find one that would give her legitimate cause to throw him out.

Pearl looked down at the floor and saw the fruits of Rick's labor. Grom's body was looking better than the night they first met. His ruined arms were straightened out and his legs were almost completely repaired. The mechanoid's chest and abdomen were a little worn but Rick repaired the damaged processors and internal dwarf star powered core.

The pale gem was fascinated by the inner workings of the mechanoid, having never seen such technology before in her thousands of years, but she still felt a little anxious about being around Grom and his companion. There was a sudden, unexpected jolt of movement from the headless body of Grom, which made Pearl jump in fright and summon her weapon. The movement stopped as quickly as it had started.

Rick glanced over at the headless body and raised an eyebrow. "Interesting" murmured Rick "Probably just a minor in fl*urp*ux of power. Need to get that checked".

Amethyst burst out laughing. "You should've seen your face Pearl!" chortled Amethyst.

Pearl flushed, feeling irked and embarrassed. "Well, how was I supposed to know that would happen" sniffed Pearl.

Steven looked to Rick "Was that supposed to happen?" he asked.

Rick shrugged "I-I dunno. Probably. It's just a small burst of power or maybe some residual radiation…or w*burp*orse."

Pearl frowned "Worse?" Rick didn't answer. There was a click and the sniper scope on Grom's face disassembled itself and melted away, revealing a normal eye.

Rick walked around the table and he carefully set his friend's head back where it should. Pearl watched with fascination as shining, silver wires and tendrils slithered forth from the mechanoid's head and body, joining themselves together and with another click, the head was reattached.

Grom blinked his orange eyes and he sat himself up.

Rick fished his silver flask from his coat pocket and took a pull. He belched and commanded "Status report".

Grom recited in a formal, mechanical tone "Central systems are near operational capacity. Legs and arms are near operational standards. Exo-skeletal integrity is intact. "

"Sounds good" said Steven.

However, Grom continued on. "Motor functions are compromised, recommended action: manual rerouting for sufficient power distribution to limbs. Data banks, intellectual programing and higher functions, such as social interaction programing and comba-"

"Yeah, yeah, we get it" said Rick, dismissively. He folded his arms and plopped down on the couch "We still got an ass load of work left to do". Pearl winced.

The slender gem abhorred Rick's vocabulary and considered it a horrible influence on Steven. She tried asking the scientist to be a little more tactful with his words but the man belched and grumbled "No promises."

"Can you fix him?" asked Steven, hopeful.

Rick thought for a moment. Finally, he sighed, "I can. How*burp*ever, I still need parts and I mean real parts. Unfortunately, I'm low and I got no portal gun. I can't keep using yesterday's garbage and knock off brands from the pawnshop. What, what I need is some real mechanoid stuff. Otherwise, Grom may not be back to full strength." He looked to Grom "Not only that, his programing may need some readjustment."

"Why?" asked Amethyst "He seems perfectly normal to me."

Rick thought for a moment then he said to Grom "Grom, buddy, I'm afraid these repairs are going to take a little longer than I thought."

The mechanoid's eyes widened in shock and he suddenly burst into tears. "Why! Why is this happening to me!" cried Grom, mournfully "By the gods! I-I don't think I'll be able to rejoin the zero-grav team and win the galactic cup and make my father proud!"

Pearl, Steven and Amethyst looked at the mechanoid in shock. Rick, on the other hand, rolled his eyes. "Hey" said Rick, snapping his fingers "Hey!"

Grom stopped immediately and he looked his friend with a calm, emotionless face "Yes Mr. Sanchez?"

Pearl stared at the strange machine "W-what in the world was that?" asked the gem.

Rick scratched his chin "He said his social programming was compromised, which, which probably included his emotion and empathy subroutines." He took another drink from his flask and frowned "If his programing isn't fixed, he'll be an u*burp*nstable emotional bomb armed with a hair-trigger. There'll be no telling what he'll do or what will set him off."

That didn't sit well with Pearl. Amethyst frowned in confusion. "You mean that he'll be a big crybaby the whole time?" asked the purple gem.

Before Rick could answer, Grom turned his head towards Amethyst. The mechanoid's eyes burned with an intense hatred and anger that Pearl has rarely seen.

"What in the nine hells did you say!" snarled Grom. He moved his arms and tried to rise but his barely functioning limbs creaked a little and he ended up back on the floor. The mechanoid raised a fist and growled "Come down here and say it to my face you little turd! I'll take you apart like-" there was a beep and he suddenly stopped. The mechanoid suddenly frowned and apologized to Amethyst. He then lay down flat on the floor and closed his eyes.

Everyone stared at him in surprise. "I-is he asleep?" asked Steven, confused.

Rick nodded "Yeah. His power core may be online but its still going to take some time to be fixed. It reboots every once and a while to help his systems. It's probably best for everyone that he's asleep". Everyone nodded in agreement.

Rick scratched his head "I really need to make a few runs to the nearest intergalactic super-mart or mall or hardware store." He looked up at Pearl and asked "Do, do you th*urp*ink that I could bum a ride from your crystal thing?"

Pearl shook her head "I'm afraid not. The warp pad is only able to take us to planets that have their own warp pads but most of those have long since been inactive. Besides, all the locations with warp pads have no markets or anything what you've described."

Rick sighed and rolled his eyes, muttering something under his breath.

Suddenly there was a flash of light and Steven exclaimed "Garnet!" Pearl turned and saw her long time friend Garnet return. Garnet was the leader of the three earthbound crystal gems and has been ever since the death of Steven's mother. The tall, muscular fusion gem gave Pearl a look that she recognized.

"Trouble?" asked Pearl.

Garnet nodded "There's something that's happening up at the Sky Spire. We need to check it out. It could take all of us."

"Yeah!" cried Steven, jumping up from the couch "Lets go!" Steven made a run for the warp pad but Garnet grabbed him by the collar of his shirt and hoisted him up. The young half gem looked up at Garnet and complained "Aw, come on."

"You can't come with us" said Garnet, calmly "It's too dangerous. Maybe next time." She placed Steven back down on the ground.

Steven folded his arms and pouted. Although he was disappointed, Steven knew that the gems were good on their word and there would be another chance for him to join them on another mission.

Garnet and Amethyst went to the warp pad.

Pearl ruffled Steven's hair "Don't worry, we'll be back in no time" assured the gem "When we get back, we can go out for ice cream or something." That cheered Steven up. His expression brightened and he got excited. She turned to leave but the gem then remembered that there wouldn't be anyone around to watch Steven.

Normally Steven was fine on his own. But with Rick around, the Gems didn't trust him too much. Just as she was considering what to do, Greg knocked on the door. Relieved, Pearl went to the front door and let Greg in.

"Thank goodness you're here" said Pearl, quickly "We were just heading out and we need someone to keep an eye on Steven".

Greg frowned in confusion. "But I-I got something to-" sputtered Greg but Pearl didn't hear.

She thanked Greg and ran to the warp pad. Once on the pad, the crystal teleportation device glowed and activated, enveloping the three Crystal Gems in light and in an instant, were gone.

* * *

When the Gems left, Rick was glad to get some space. The colorful trio was seriously cramping Rick's style. He's glad that they allowed him to stick around but he knew that they didn't trust him very much, which is why they try and keep a close eye on him.

Garnet was cool. She kept her distance and didn't ask many questions. Amethyst was an annoyance and Pearl was just overbearing, which earned the nickname 'Crazy Aunt Pearl' from Rick, which made the gem twitch and act funny. The scientist always got a kick out of that.

Steven greeted his dad and wanted to play some games or hangout but Greg couldn't. "Sorry Steven" apologized Greg.

"Aw, but why?" asked Steven.

"I've got some errands to run in Empire City" explained the boy's father "I'm going to be gone all day and I just stopped by to see if you wanted anything?" Steven thought for a moment and asked, "Could you get me a cool souvenir?"

"Sure buddy."

Greg looked to Rick and asked him the same question. The scientist was fiddling with what remained of Grom's foot. He stopped and looked up at Greg. "Yeah, you think you can get some be*urp*er? The stuff they sell here taste like cat piss".

Greg gave Rick an odd look but nodded. "Sure" said Greg "And Rick, I was wondering-"

"No you can't borrow any money from me" said Rick, curtly "Besides, I don't have any of your earth's currency".

Greg stared at the scientist for a moment and said "I was wondering if you could watch Steven while I'm gone." "Fine" said Rick, shrugging

"Really?"

Rick shrugged again "Yeah whatever, Its not like I got anything better to do with my life and little Stevie is old enough to take care of himself but you know, whatever." Greg smiled "Thanks Rick, you're a life saver".

Rick didn't really care and could've tried harder to show how much he really didn't want to babysit someone else's kid. But, then again he could use some company since Grom was out of commission and he didn't have a Morty to spare. Besides, Steven had his magical shield thing and it could prove useful in a tight spot.

Greg left, leaving Steven, Grom and Rick alone.

A few minutes after Greg left, Rick scooped up all the parts and tools that he was using and placed it back into his box. He shoved Grom's body underneath the couch and he dusted off his white lab coat. Steven was excited to spend time with Rick.

"So, what are we going to do now huh? Play games? Go exploring?" asked Steven, enlivened.

"W-we?" said Rick, incredulously "The*urp*re isn't any we. _I_ am going to the store and pick up some supplies and score a little something-something."

"Aw come on," complained Steven "You can't just leave me here alone! I'll die of boredom."

"Maybe so" said Rick "But its not my problem." He moved to walk out the door but Steven got in the way. The young boy fell to his knees and pleaded "Please take me with you! Please, I'll be good! If not, I'll die of boredom!"

Rick grimaced then waved a hand "Jus-Just go, go outside and play or…wait a minute, shouldn't you be in school or something?"

"What's school?" asked Steven, confused.

"That explains a few things" mumbled Rick.

Steven's eyes watered a little "Pleeeeease!" The scientist looked down at the boy for a good long moment. The young child gave his best puppy dog eyes at the scientist.

Eventually, Rick groaned then he held up a hand "Ok, ok. You can come. B*urp*ut, you have to do everything that I say, ok? If not, I'll…toss you out into vacuum of space or something."

"Yay!" cheered Steven, jumping to his feet.

Rick and Steven left the house.

* * *

When the two walked out the door, the invisible shape scanned the house for a moment then followed after them, doing his best not to divulge his existence to his two ignorant prey.

* * *

Rick and Steven walked down the sidewalk, heading towards a row of concrete buildings with a number of small metal garage doors.

As they walked, Steven was chattering away excitedly but Rick was zoned out. He was reflecting on the past two weeks.

Two weeks earlier, he was incarcerated in the worst prison in the entire galaxy, maybe the whole universe, and now he's walking free as a bird, in a new unexplored universe. It was great, but this new universe was beginning to get on his nerves.

Everything was so sunny, bright and clean. The sun shone brighter, the people smiled more, the air itself seemed to smell sweet and the world around him seemed to be composed of brighter shades of their typical colors. If Rick didn't know any better, he would've thought he was sucked into a bizarre kid's cartoon or a Stepford themed universe or was tripping serious balls.

The worst part of this universe was that these people didn't have anything cool from that his home universe had. Everything seemed to be a bad knock off brand or a lousy equivalent. Television sucked here too.

But beside the lousy brands and television, not everything was bad. The Crystal Gems didn't sell him out to the fuzz and the Steven kid wasn't so bad, but that depending on the day. From the best he could tell and from the dodgy answers he got, Rick concluded that the Crystal Gems were aliens who had been on earth for a very long time and have some sort of connection to Steven's mom.

He didn't really care about their history, but the scientist couldn't help but feel that there was something more to that story. Rick tried to scan the solar system with a makeshift deep space scope but his readings were very weird.

Fortunately, the scientist was able to find an alien satellite/city that was playing endless loops of music and advertisements in a wide range of familiar languages.

When they arrived at their destination, Steven raised an eyebrow and looked at Rick "Why did we come to U-Stor?"

U-Stor was the only place in Beach City with good storage lockers within a hundred mile radius and it was dirt-cheap.

Rick explained, "Well, I may or may not have lied to your Crazy Aunt Pearl". He went to his storage locker, unlocked it and lifted the door open. "You see, I have be*urp*en working on a little something for a while."

Steven peered inside and gasped. The storage locker was unorganized but clean. The far wall had rows of shelves, each holding tools and mechanical parts. There was a small worktable with a lamp on it and a half completed project that looked like a futuristic gun. What really caught Steven's eye was the large, saucer shaped vehicle sitting in the middle of the locker.

"Whoa, cool!" exclaimed Steven "A spaceship!"

"Yep" said Rick, proudly "Made it myself. Took a while and a lot of scavenging but I managed to piece this together."

The saucer craft was an almost an exact copy of Rick's ship from home, except this one was a little smaller than Rick's old one. It was made of a plain, dark grey metal, with two car headlights on the hood and custom made thrusters on the rear. It had wheels on the underside propping it up and a protective glass dome. As a personal touch, Rick added a few streaks of orange and red paint and a single bumper sticker on the sides of the ship.

It was missing a few small things but it was better than nothing.

Rick fished a set of car keys from his coat pocket and he pressed a button. There was a chirp and the ship rolled out of the locker on its own. Steven's eyes were the size of dishes. Rick opened the glass dome and climbed in. He glanced sideways at the starstruck Steven and cocked an eyebrow "Wha*burp*t are you waiting for? An invitation? Come on, get in before I change my mind."

The young boy nodded quickly "R-right". He climbed in and the glass dome closed.

"So uh, where are we going?" asked Steven, anxiously.

"You'll see," said Rick, cryptically. The scientist hit some buttons and the ship purred. He grabbed the controls and floored it. The ship shot straight up into the air and, once it was high enough above the buildings, took off like a shot. The ship soared over Beach City, then the beach, the ocean and then began to climb.

Climbing higher and higher, the world slowly turned white and blue as they cut through the sky and clouds. Blue began to give way to black as the ship exited the earth's atmosphere. Steven managed to buckle himself into his seat before they left Beach City behind, but he was gripping his chair tightly as they rocketed past a satellite.

Once the earth was a fair distance away, Rick set it to cruise control then sat back in his chair. He turned his head and saw Steven had closed his eyes.

"You can open your eyes now kid," said Rick.

Steven's eye blinked open and his jaw dropped. "W-w-we're in space" said the young boy, breathless.

"Yep" belched Rick. He smiled a little "I bet your motherly trifecta didn't let you do anything this cool right?" Steven didn't seem to have heard him. The young boy was gazing out at the stars as they pass them by.

After a few moments of stargazing, Steven turned to Rick and asked, "So, where are we going?"

"Shopping," answered Rick "There's a little shopping center a few light years away. We'll pick up some parts for Grom and a little…" he coughed into his hand, mumbling under his breath then continued "Then we'll be ba*urp*ck home in no time".

Steven stared at Rick in amazement "You mean we get to meet aliens!" exclaimed the young boy in excitement.

Rick nodded "Yep. Now let me catch some z's. Wake me in about an hour." He curled up in his seat and dozed off.

Steven was giddy. He was bouncing up and down in his seat, struggling to contain his excitement. They were in outer space, flying in a spaceship and were going to go shopping in space and meet aliens. Going on missions with the Crystal Gems was fun and exciting but Rick has increased the awesome factor by a hundred percent.

* * *

Unbeknownst the two sitting in the front seats, the invisible figure was curled up in the back, carefully trying not to touch Rick Sanchez or the boy named Steven.

Although he was far away from the interference of the colorful creatures named Garnet, Amethyst and Pearl and was in a perfect situation to capture Sanchez, the Fixer knew that now was not the right moment. He had to wait and watch.

He has been observing for two weeks now and carefully pieced together the strategies and weaknesses of Sanchez and his new allies.

Soon, it will be time. The Fixer can wait. He was a patient being and so were his employers.

* * *

The shopping center was not small by any count. It was indeed aboard a satellite and it was massive. It resembled an umbrella. The top was a large, flat surface dotted with a sea of glittering lights that mirrored the stars. Upon approach, Steven was amazed to see a small city, with hundreds of shops and dwelling places, all of it crammed in under an immense shell of metal and glass.

Underneath the city was a long, narrow shaft of rock and metal with ships of various sizes and designs entering and leaving the satellite.

Rick entered one of the docking bays. Rick locked the ship and the two got on an elevator on the far side of the docking bay. The elevator ascended hundreds of floors and came to a stop at the middle level. The elevator deposited them in a vast, beautiful garden.

The garden was filled with tall, twisted trees, shrubbery of various colors and sapphire grass. Green metal pathways cut through the garden and lead to a row of escalators that leads down into the shopping areas. There was a burly, orange and white crustacean alien in a blue and grey uniform standing guard in a little station by the escalators.

Rick gave him a few purple notes and the crustacean accepted them and handed the human scientist a pair of tickets, clicking his mandibles and tipping his hat.

Rick passed the alien as if he were a normal person and stepped on the escalator but Steven ogled at the crustacean for a few long moments until a tall, slender stick-like alien nudged Steven along.

As Rick and Steven descended the escalator, the two took in the impressive sight before them. There were multiple levels stacked on top of one another, containing shops, stalls, restaurants, apartments and kiosks. High above, the glass dome gave an impressive view of a nearby purple colored planet and the endless expanse of stars and blackness. Strange and familiar smells mingled in the air along side the buzz of hundreds of alien dialects spoken by the thousands of shoppers, inhabitants and shopkeepers and ambient music playing over loud speakers.

Rick inhaled deeply and grinned "Ah, just like home." "Really?" asked Steven, amazed.

The scientist nodded "Yep, although the space malls back home weren't so fancy, courtesy of the Federation and the Conglomerate."

"The who and the what?"

Rick didn't answer. His eyes darted about wildly, bouncing from one shop to another.

"Remember Steven," said Rick, crisply "We're here to collect supplies and nothing else. We need to find parts and once we do, we'll head straight home and no one will be the wiser. The shops can be rather te*urp*mpting but we can't lose foc…" he stopped for a second and exclaimed "Holy Shit look at that!" He pointed off to one of the lower levels as they passed.

Steven followed his gaze and saw an establishment with a large neon sign hanging above its entryway. Through the entryway, the young boy caught a glimpse of hundreds of glowing and blinking machines. "It kind of looks like an arcade" observed Steven.

"Well duh!" said Rick "That's because it is! It's a Chitz & Blips, one of the best arcades ever! I can't believe they have one here."

"No way!"

"They got the best games ever!"

"No way!"

"Yes way!"

"Lets go!" declared Steven

"Later" said Rick, calmly. Steven looked at his friend in bewilderment.

Rick's face was emotionless and business like…until he burst out laughing and he said, "Just kidding, lets go!"

Once they reached the end of the escalator, Steven and Rick found some stairs and raced up several levels and sprinted into Chitz & Blips, quickly losing themselves in the lights and sounds of the arcade.

* * *

A few hours passed and Rick managed to pull himself away from the arcade and went to work. He slipped his tickets and a few Flurbos into Steven's pocket and snuck off to do his shopping.

Rick could drag the kid along to do his shopping but it was easier to leave him to be distracted by the games and return once he got all the parts he needs for Grom and his portal gun… after a drink.

The scientist reached the floor with a few technology outlets. He spied a nice, Martian themed pub off to his left and moved to head over there but he froze. Ahead of him were four stony face soldiers. All clad in matching blue-grey military uniforms, berets and polished black boots. Each of them armed with the weapon of choice for most armies in any galaxy in any universe: plasma rifles.

Judging from the uniforms, these weren't just any soldiers. _Federation,_ thought Rick. The scientist quickly sat down and snatched a newspaper from the blue slug-like alien already sitting there next to him and hid himself behind it.

As the soldiers marched past, Rick got a better look. The soldiers were humanoid, had stone grey skin. Their eyes were black and orange and each looked about as friendly as a starving hyena. On each of their shoulders was a noticeable patch that intrigued Rick. It was similar to the Federation's insignia but different. The scientist watched silently as they continued on past him without sparing a glance.

He frowned for a moment and wondered just who were those guys, until he looked down at the paper he was holding. The page he turned to had a picture of a grey skinned, morose looking woman. She was dressed in a light blue blouse and skirt. Standing along the woman were several others, who were watching her shaking the tentacle of a humanoid squid man.

Rick analyzed the article and apparently she was Representative Pike from some Coalition that apparently is several thousand years old and is still growing or something. The article then rambled on about taxation, recent skirmishes and who wore what at some gala, blah, blah, blah.

Rick crumpled the paper up and tossed it aside, to the chagrin of the slug man who sat beside him, who cussed him out and Rick replied with flashing a middle finger at the creature's face. He turned and walked away as the slug man shook an angry fist at Rick.

There wasn't much time to waste, he needed to get the supplies and get the hell out of here before something goes to hell.

Unfortunately, Rick was right.

* * *

Steven was having the time of his life. He had cashed in most of his tickets for a few prizes, namely a miniature figurine of a fearsome beast that looked like a mix between a lion and a porcupine, along with a few bars of alien chocolates that seemed to change flavor with each chew.

Chitz & Blips was awesome! Not only did it have a number of earth arcade games, it also had a whole slew of games that Steven couldn't have thought up in his wildest dreams, like a virtual reality game where he could choose to live out the life of a number of different characters, believing that he really was them.

It was fun but very jarring, especially after he had died in an epic battle against a horde of orcs and trolls.

Steven wandered about the arcade in search of a new game to play but as he ventured deeper into the arcade, he began to feel tired and a little homesick.

He left the Chitz & Blips and started to wander around in search of Rick.

* * *

The half gem passed kiosks selling a number of strange, alien devices and wares. He passed a sad looking alien who was lying up against a wall, bundled up in rags and holding a cardboard sign with something written in an alien language. The sorry creature watched Steven closely as he walked past.

All around him the sights and sounds grew stranger. Gelatinous blobs slid past him, gurgling at each other, small swarms of insect like people flew over head, hairy goblin like creature was haggling with a tall hooded figure over a purple spotted lump of green.

High overhead, a jumbo holographic screen hovered around, showing images of starships and a blue skinned man with long eyestalks was reporting in a grave tone.

" _-latest act of aggression against the worlds of the frontier from hostiles has claimed the lives of hundreds as two transports were mercilessly destroyed. The Council has urged-"_ All around Steven, aliens occasionally shook their heads and cast quick looks up at the screen above. Steven continued onward.

The avenue he traversed slowly narrowed and became more claustrophobic. The buildings and walls started to draw closer together, the stalls became scarce and the aliens looked even stranger than before.

Before long, Steven found himself alone, tired, hungry and wandering through a dirty alleyway. It felt like he had been walking for hours and there had been no sign of Rick. He called out his name a number of times but his voice was drowned out by the cacophony of voices and music.

He searched high and low, wandering the vast, endless alleys and streets of several floors, and tired, Steven's pace slowed to a stop and he sat down on a small stack of crates. He withdrew one of his chocolate bars from his pocket and began to unwrap it but was interrupted by the soft jingling of a bell. The half gem looked up and saw a thin, ragged figure, sitting a few feet away.

Clutched in a claw like hand was a rusty old bell, with a cardboard sign held in the other. The hooded figure jiggled the bell, causing it to chime softly. Steven heard a soft womanly voice beg in a foreign language. She continued to plead in unrecognizable tongues, until she suddenly started speaking in accented English. "Please…spare a few flurbos or a schmeckle, even a brapple…please…starving…"

Feeling a twinge of pity and a little bit of guilt, the half gem sighed and walked over to the woman.

As he got closer, the woman looked up at him and smiled kindly. Steven paused. The woman looked a normal human but rather dirty. Her face was smeared in grime and dirt that almost covered the blue intricate tattoos on her face. Her violet eyes gleamed in the faint, orange light of the street lamps above.

"Sweet boy" said the woman, holding out a hand "could you spare a flurbo for a poor woman or possibly a bit of food?"

Steven nodded "Sure." He handed her two of his chocolate bars and half of the purple notes he had in his pocket. The woman's eyes widened in shock at what she had received. She looked up at Steven and looked on the verge of tears. "Thank you, oh thank you!" cried the woman happily.

"No problem" said Steven, feeling bashful. The woman pocketed the money and wolfed down on one of the candy bars.

Steven was happy to have helped the woman but he was still lost in an alien city, on a satellite, deep in space. He sat down beside the woman and sighed deeply. It was hopeless. Having noticed his sadness, the woman asked Steven "What is the matter?"

"I'm lost" sniffed Steven, sitting back up against the wall "I was playing at the arcade and I lost my friend. I looked all over the place and I can't find him." The woman frowned "Have you tried asking security for help?"

Steven shook his head "I can't understand them, I don't speak any languages…" he looked up at the woman "Actually, you're the only one that I can actually talk to."

She smiled sadly "I suppose that its fate that we meet. I speak many languages, due to my… old job. Now…I'm here."

"I'm sorry" apologized Steven.

The woman shook her head "It's not your fault. I just always had bad luck…" for a moment the two sat in silence together, listening to the ambient sounds of the satellite. The distant sounds of music and chatter barely reached them in the small, dirty alleyway.

Finally, Steven asked, "Have you seen my friend? Tall, old, grey-haired, looks like a scientist?"

The woman thought for a moment then asked "Does he belch a lot and drink from a flask?"

"That's him!"

"Then yes I have. I saw him at the Plorb Tavern on Deck One-A, the top level. I could take you there if you need."

"Yes please!" Steven jumped to his feet and the woman rose to her feet.

The half gem gasped at the sight of the woman. She was tall, taller than Garnet. The woman's rags were sullied old robe. As she rose to full height, the woman shed her hood, revealing a head of long, wild orange-red hair. Steven stepped away from her and did his best not to gag at the foul stench of the woman's old robes.

She gestured with her claw like hand "Come, let's go."

The two left the alley behind and wound their way through several backstreets, passing some open doors and tiny, out of the way restaurants serving strange foods, until they reached a long, winding staircase that spiraled upward and seemed to have pierced the dome high above.

Steven groaned a little at the long climb ahead of them but he simply shifted into serious mode and he began climbing the stairs two at a time.

The tall woman followed Steven and managed to keep pace with her long stride.

As they climbed, the woman and Steven talked.

"I'm sorry that we couldn't take an elevator" apologized the woman "Any level below the commerce floors don't have any, mainly due to the poverty and all"

"That's ok" said Steven, jovially "I don't mind walking."

The woman glanced sideways at the half gem "Where are you from? I don't recognize your accent."

"Earth"

"What an odd name to call your planet."

Steven shrugged.

"What brings you to Kasak?"

"Shopping. We're trying to fix our friend." The woman nodded slowly, absorbing the information.

Steven looked at the woman's attire and asked, "Are you a wizard or something? Your clothes make you look like one."

A soft chuckle escaped the woman's thin lips. "No, I'm nothing that spectacular. I don't have the talent for it. I'm actually a fortune teller, albeit not a very good one."

The young boy looked at his new friend in astonishment "No way! You can see the future?"

"Kind of" replied the woman with a shrug "It's kind of a long story, but yes I can." "Can you look at my future?" asked Steven, excited.

The woman considered for a moment then nodded "I suppose I can try."

Steven and the woman stopped for a moment. The young boy watched with fascination as the woman clasped her hands together, murmuring in a harsh, guttural language. The tattoos on her face glowed bright blue for a few moment then the light faded and the murmuring ended.

Steven frowned "Was that it?" The woman nodded.

"Well…what did you see?" The half gem was feeling a little nervous. His friend's face had a sad smile.

After a few moments, the woman said, "You will have many adventures ahead"

"Alright!" cheered Steven. He was excited at the prospect of new adventures but the half gem stopped and noticed that the sad smile was still there.

"What's wrong?" he asked.

She sighed deeply and continued "You're friends will grow closer together, you will discover new things that you never knew about yourself and your mother. But beware young gem, you will face hardships, you will face treachery and worst of all, you will suffer loss and see horrors like you have never seen before." She leaned forward, staring deep into Steven's eyes and finished in a soft voice "Beware He Who Walks in Shadows."

Steven's insides turned to ice. Horrors? Hardships? What did she mean? Was something bad going to happen to him and who was this 'He Who Walks in Shadows' person?

"Ah, here we are!" announced the woman's voice.

Steven blinked and he saw that he was standing outside a tavern that was in the style of an old Viking longhouse. A pair of green aliens with multiple limbs left the tavern, dressed in Viking attire. Steven's eyes widened in shock "How did we get here so fast?"

"Time flies when you have a good conversation with friends" replied the woman. She patted the half gem on the shoulder "This is where I leave you. I hope you find your friend." Steven turned to thank her but saw, to his surprise, that she was gone, along with the stairs.

Behind the young boy was a beautiful courtyard with stone pathways and blue grass and a large marble fountain. Steven blinked a few times to be sure that he wasn't dreaming. After he was certain that he was awake, Steven turned and ran into the tavern.

* * *

Although the tavern was large and had room to fit a horde, it was packed with large number of aliens of various sizes and races. All crammed together, all shoving and pushing each other around to make their own space. Strange smells and sounds assaulted Steven as he stepped over limbs, ducked under tables and avoided being stepped on, until he found Rick towards the rear of the tavern.

Rick sat at a round table with three aliens, playing cards and drinking from large mugs. In the center of the table was a small trove: bills, coins, jewels and a small, velvet pouch. As he approached the table, Rick drained his mug and slammed it down on the table.

"Let's do this!" belched the scientist as he laid his cards on the table. The aliens did the same and all three groaned, some grumbled in their languages and one shook an angry head.

"Oh yeah! L-L-Lick my balls, suckas!" crowed Rick "Come to papa!" he scooped his winnings closer to him.

"Rick!" cried Steven "I finally found you!"

"Oh, h*urp*ey S-Steven!" greeted Rick cheerfully "Ch-check it out! I won eighteen thousand flurbos and a bag of Kollaxion Crystals!"

"Rick" said Steven "It's been fun and all but I think we should go home now."

"Yeah, yeah, h-hold on, just one more hand and then we'll go home" promised the nearly drunk scientist. The young half gem was polite and he didn't mind waiting but he felt that they have been away too long and that his family was worried.

Impatient, Steven grabbed Rick's arm and tugged a little harder than he intended. Rick's arm jerked suddenly, accidentally splashing his drink in the face of the alien sitting next to Rick. Everything fell silent for an instant.

All eyes seemed to be on Rick and Steven. Steven let go of Rick's arm "oops" mumbled Steven. Rick sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose "Dammit…"

The alien that was soaked in Rick's ale, a large, walking slab of meat, slammed his fists on the table, snarling in a strange language. He rose from his seat. He grabbed Rick by the collar of his shirt and lifted him up until they were eye to eye. Sensing the tension and the possible chaos, the other patrons made room by scooting away or running for the exit.

The large alien bared his teeth then began snarling and spitting in Rick's face. Steven sat there nervously watching and waiting. Rick looked bored. After being reprimanded, the scientist wiped spittle from his face with his sleeve.

"You done?" asked Rick, coolly.

The alien nodded. Rick nodded too then he kneed the creature in the groin. A high squeal escaped from the creature's mouth. With his grip loosened, Rick pulled free and grabbed his mug then brought it down on the alien's head, knocking him to the ground. He knocked him on the head a few times for good measure.

"Sorry for that" apologized the scientist, dusting off his clothes "But, next time, lets, lets just talk things out like re*urp*al men."

One of the other aliens at the table drew a pistol and aimed at Rick, squeezing the trigger. Quickly, Steven quickly jumped in the way, summoning his shield. The blue burst of hot plasma struck his shield and ricocheted back at the one who fired. The plasma bolt struck the pistol and melted the barrel off. Furious, the alien dropped the weapon and went for a knife but was knocked over when a large mug struck him square in the face.

Before the other alien could reach for his weapon, Rick had drawn his own. "Li*burp*sten you little bastard" growled the now angry scientist "We're taking our hard earned winnings and we're getting out of here. If you follow us or rat us out to the cops, you can be sure that you won't be able to have kids for a while."

"Yeah" agreed Steven, not really hearing what Rick said.

The alien held his hands up in surrender. Rick scooped up his winnings and tossed it all into a huge sack he kept by his chair.

The two made their way out of the tavern.

* * *

Once outside, Rick closed the door and he told Steven one word. Run.

The two ran through the courtyard, passing the fountain and trees until they reached a railing. On the other side of the railing was nothing but a drop down to the ended at bottom most floor of the satellite city, several hundred floors below.

Behind, Steven could hear loud, angry voices in pursuit. "Uh, Rick" said Steven nervously.

"Shut up, I'm trying to save our lives here," snapped Rick as he dug furiously through his bag. The half gem glanced over his shoulder and saw a wave of angry aliens heading their direction, a number of them brandishing weapons.

"Got it!" cried Rick triumphantly. Steven looked to his friend and saw that he was now wearing a new pair of boots. He grabbed the sack and he scooped up Steven in one arm. "Hold on, this isn't going to be fun." Rick jumped up onto the railing and he jumped off.

The two fell far. Steven and Rick fell fast. The world around them blurred and air screamed in their ears. The half gem almost laughed as they passed bewildered people on several residential and commerce levels. Fear climbed into Steven's throat as the bottom grew close.

Rick clicked his heels together and suddenly they came to a halt in mid air. The half gem felt the sudden stop and did his best not to barf.

With another three clicks, Rick and Steven shot forward, soaring over the escalators, passing the glass elevator shafts, and landed in front of the elevator that led to the docking bays. They boarded the elevator.

Once it stopped, Rick and Steven raced to their ship and hopped in.

"Hang on!" said Rick. Steven managed to buckle himself in as the ship lurched forward, accidentally bumping into another small craft. The ship rocked backward and bumped into another ship, causing Rick to curse. "Hate these tiny parking spaces" muttered the scientist.

Their ship ascended a little and rocketed out of the hanger bay, racing past ships arriving and departing from the satellite.

As the satellite began to shrink into the distance, Steven caught a glimpse of some flashes of red and blue emerging from the satellite.

"I-is that the police?" squeaked Steven, frightened.

Rick glanced in his rear view mirror. There were a pair of small cruisers trailing them, flashing the red and blue light of law enforcement and they were gaining speed. The scientist's eyes widened.

"Oh man…you know what that means?" he said softly.

"W-what?"

"High speed chase, bitches!" hollered Rick as he slammed on the accelerator.

Steven was thrown back into his seat as the ship sped up. "Aw man, we-we might even make the News!" laughed Rick, manically.

"What!" cried Steven "W-we can't be on the news, I'll get in trouble!"

"Don't worry, its only Galactic News" assured the older man "Unless your dad or Crazy Aunt Pearl can get Galaxy Cable, you'll be fine." He glanced sideways at his frightened young friend and winked "Besides, I can lose these guys. I can assure you, you are not going to space jail and you are not getting in trouble. A-although we do need to s*urp*et some ground rules before any future outings…if there are any."

* * *

Rick managed to give their pursuers the slip when they maneuvered through an asteroid belt.

Along the way, they passed a traffic camera probe that monitored galactic traffic. Rick knocked it off course as a prank.

They reached Earth in no time. It was night when they arrived back in Beach City. Rick landed the ship and placed it back in the storage locker and locked it up tight. The pair ran through the silent, empty streets of Beach City, each carrying the items they acquired at the satellite city.

"Why couldn't we take the ship back to the house?" asked Steven as they jogged along an empty boulevard.

"Can't keep it there" replied Rick in between breaths "Cops scanners might spot it sitting outside your house. Besides, I don't like other people poking around my st*urp*uff."

In about an hour, they arrived back at the house. Peering inside, Steven was relieved that it was still dark.

"All clear" whispered Steven. He opened the door carefully and the two tiptoed inside, hoping against all hope not to get caught. Once they were inside, however, the lights switched on and they came face to face with a solemn Garnet, a half sleeping Amethyst and a furious, distraught Pearl.

Steven felt his heart stop, while Rick smiled and asked innocently, "Hey guys…when did you get back?"

* * *

The Plorb Tavern was in shambles. After the two humans had beat up two other patrons, a large brawl ensued inside the tavern and had spilled out into the street. Fortunately, law enforcement arrived, along with members of the garrison, and quelled the chaos.

The barkeep, a gruff yeti looking creature, was mopping up some blood, ale and food. The door opened and a slender figure entered the ruined tavern.

The yeti looked up and his eyes narrowed in confusion. He had already spoken to the officers who had arrived on scene. Why is there another officer? The figure wore a long, grey trench coat with light grey armor underneath. Judging by the figure's shape, it was most likely a woman.

The figure wore a helmet with a visor, shielding her features. As she approached, the barkeep suddenly recognized who the new arrival was. He didn't need to see the woman's face to know who this figure was. The symbol on her chest spoke volumes.

The barkeep snapped the newcomer a crisp salute and the armored woman returned the salute.

"At ease" said the investigator. Her voice was a soft like a whisper and had a rough electronic edge, due to the voice modulator in her armor.

"How can I help you ma'am?" asked the barkeep. The armored woman's gloved hand fished into her coat pocket and retrieved a small holo pad. She clicked it on and a slightly blurred image appeared. It was of a saucer craft carrying the two humans who began the horrible brawl in his tavern. The older one was flipping off the camera, while the younger one looked rather queasy.

"Are these the trouble makers?" asked the investigator.

The yeti squinted a little and he nodded stiffly "Yeah, those are the two. They caused me thousands in damages. It's going to take a while to pay for all this. Little punks." The investigator nodded thoughtfully.

"Can you tell me anything about them?" asked the woman "Anything strange?"

The barkeep shrugged "Well, they're human. Terran from the looks of them" He paused and he began to scratch his chin "However…there was something about them, especially about the young one."

The investigator tilted her head "Oh?"

"Yeah, something strangely…familiar. Something I haven't seen since the old days."

The investigator leaned forward. The barkeep's reflection grew larger on the slick, black visor of her helmet and he could see how uncomfortable he was growing. The barkeep didn't scare easily, but this investigator sure gave him some seriously bad vibes.

"Please, tell me" asked the investigator, softly "Tell me everything you know."

End of Chapter

* * *

 **(a/n: So, what do you think? Kinda long and strange but whatever. So, let me know what you think and i'll try and update it as soon as i can.)**


	3. Pt 3: Being Neighborly

**(a/n: This takes place during season one of SU, on the episode "Beach Party" but with some alterations. Please, enjoy!)**

* * *

Part 3: Being Neighborly

Rick finished off the last slice of his pizza and reclined in his seat, feeling partly satisfied and mostly disappointed. This pizza place blows. What more could've the scientist expect out of a place called "Fish Stew Pizza", run by a family whose last name is literally Pizza.

Rick didn't really care about their name or the name of their pizzeria or the quality of pizza, the scientist only needed a place to lay low until his contact arrived.

Even though it has been two days since Rick and Steven's wild escapades in space, the scientist has yet to return to his temporary dwelling place.

After they got caught, Pearl and Garnet promptly sent Steven off to bed without any room for argument. Once the boy was gone, Pearl ripped into him, scolding the scientist as if he were a child.

Rick didn't care. He simply sat back on the couch and sipped his drink as the emotional and verbal fireworks unfolded before him. When Garnet managed to get a word in, she asked what happened and where they had been for the whole day.

Rick laid everything bare. Seriously, what was the point in lying? He told them of their little outing: visiting a few shops, leaving Steven alone at an arcade, going for some drinks and an ensuing tavern brawl and a high speed chase involving galactic law enforcement. Pearl about had a heart attack while Amethyst complained on missing out. Garnet remained stoic but Rick tell that gargantuan gem was not pleased.

So as a way of keeping peace, and getting some space from the suffocating trio, Rick left and hid out in a motel for the night and spent a better part of the next day in his storage locker's secret sub basement working on Grom. Thanks to his new parts, Rick's mechanoid bodyguard/companion was good to go, after his programming had been fully rebooted.

Kofi Pizza, the one of the owners of the pizzeria, arrived at the table and scooped up the empty plate and pizza tray from the table.

"Did you enjoy our new pizza?" asked Kofi with a smile.

"Ehhhh…" replied Rick with a shrug "It was alright."

"I'll take that as a compliment. We're always open to critiques from our customers." Rick nodded. He didn't enjoy the pizza but he liked Kofi. The pizzeria owner didn't stick his nose in Rick's business and always appreciated Rick's presence, unlike the rainbow-colored triumvirate.

Kofi took the plates away as the door to the pizzeria opened with a soft jingle of a bell. Rick cast a glance at the new comer and grunted "Finally."

Standing in the doorway was short, robed figure with his hood up. Scanning the restaurant, the figure hovered in slowly and carefully, as if expecting an ambush. When he reached Rick's table, the hovering figure stared at him with a pair of coal black eyes.

"Are you Rick Sanchez?" asked the hooded alien in a hissing voice.

"You found him" replied Rick, kicking up his feet on the table "Now sit down before you freak out the owners."

The hooded being pulled out the chair opposite of Rick and sat down with his hands placed carefully in his lap.

"Do you have what my master requires?" asked the alien in a low voice, hoping not to be heard.

Rick nodded "Yep, I got several cases of those special blue crystals and a whole crate of phase disrupters sitting in my garage."

"Excellent" hissed the alien as he rubbed his hairy green hands together "My master will be thrilled. Once we acquire these objects, we shall-"

"Yeah, yeah" grumbled Rick, waving a hand "Just be sure to be at the rendezvous point and have my money ready. If not, your master can kiss the crystals and devices goodbye."

The hooded alien fixed Rick with a cold look "You dare question the honor of the Dun'Sa Empire?"

"No" replied Rick, coolly "But I've been screwed on a lot of these two-for-one deals. Most of the time guys like you make demands, show up and try to screw me, or they don't show up at all."

The hooded figure nodded slowly in understanding. He bowed his head and placed a hand on his chest where his three hearts rested. "I swear by my honor and by the sacred word of all the gods-"

"Ok, I get it, I get it!"

Kofi returned with Rick's bill and noticed the robed newcomer. "Who's your friend?" asked the pizza maker.

"This is a-uh-business partner of mine." said Rick "His name is…Bob, he's not from around here." "Hello" greeted the alien with a polite nod.

"Hello to you too. Can I get you anything?" "No, no thank you. I must get going back to my ship." "Car" corrected Rick.

The hooded alien nodded and left them with a polite gesture, which, according to the alien's traditions, was howling like a banshee for about ten agonizing seconds and spat out glob of green slime at Kofi and Rick's feet. Kofi looked down at the glob of slime then to Rick.

Rick shrugged "Like I said, from out of town."

A minute after the hooded representative departed, there was a loud crash that rocked the building and caused clouds of dust and flakes of plaster falling on Rick and Kofi's heads. The two shared a look and a muffled but familiar voice could be heard outside crying, "Garnet!"

Kofi scowled "What is it now?" He stomped outside and Rick heard the pizzeria owner cry out in horror "My shop!"

"Well…there goes the rest of my afternoon," muttered Rick, bitterly. He arose and walked outside as the rest of Kofi's family emerged from the backroom and the kitchen, wondering what had just happened.

* * *

Outside, Kofi looked ready to drop dead. The roof of the pizzeria was crushed and in the middle of the destroyed the roof was Garnet. The muscular gem laid flat and still like a slab of concrete, staring blankly up into the sky. Kofi was already screaming at the motionless gem.

"Will you answer me? You wrecked my sign and are just sitting up there!"

Rick watched Kofi's angry display with minimal interest. To nobody's surprise, Garnet didn't reply. The scientist didn't know if she was socially inept or was going for the whole "silent badass" image. Either way, it got on Rick's nerves a little.

"Are we engaged in some sort of secret staring contest?!" yelled Kofi, growing red in the face.

"Garnet!" cried Steven.

"I'm fine" replied the gem as she picked herself up and hopped off the destroyed roof. Steven and the other two gems arrived on the boardwalk.

Amethyst noted ruin and laughed "This place is wrecked" she turned to her friend and held up a hand "Give me one down low"

Pearl swatted away the shorter gem's hand "No accolades for you, Amethyst". The skinny gem looked to Garnet "She knocked the puffer fish into the ocean and the sea dragon escaped!"

"Narc!"

The three gems started to chatter, turning their back on Kofi and Rick.

The pizzeria owner looked ready to erupt. "Can you believe this?" said Kofi, turning to Rick "They are ignoring me!"

"Lu*urp*cky you" replied Rick "I can't seem to get rid of them." The two human adults watched as the three aliens concluded their conversation.

"Let's regroup back at the temple" said Garnet. Her fellow gems nodded. The three suddenly jumped, launching themselves into the sky and were gone.

"Where are you going!" demanded Kofi "Who is going to pay for my sign?"

"Not them apparently" muttered Rick, under his breath.

The enraged pizzeria owner turned to Steven "Steven! What is wrong with your friends? One of them destroyed my sign and they all just jump into the sky like some circus act, without even offering to help!"

Steven frowned "But, Mr. Pizza-" "Dad, keep it down" complained a voice. Rick saw one of Kofi's daughters standing in the doorway.

Kofi turned to his daughter "Oh, did I interrupt your beauty sleep?"

Rick winced and covered his ears "Yeah, seriously Kofi, y-you might want to tone it down a little. Its still pretty early." Kofi's mother and his other daughter joined them outside.

The elderly woman's eyes widened in shock "Cheese on bread!"

The pizzeria owner shook his head in dismay "Can you believe it!" He glanced at Steven "Your such a nice boy, Steven. Why do you hang out with those animals?"

"They're not animals!" said Steven defensively

"depends on what planet you're on," murmured Rick.

"They're the crystal gems!" continued Steven, ignoring Rick's comment "and they protect humani-"

Kofi held up a hand, stopping Steven "I heard enough!" Kofi's mother, noticing the tension came up with an excuse and she retreated back into the pizzeria with her granddaughters before things got worse.

"Steven" said Kofi, calming down a little "you can tell your friends that they are officially banned from Fish Stew Pizza."

"Wait? What?" cried Steven in shock.

Kofi turned to Rick "You, on the other hand Mr. Sanchez, are not banned. You are always welcome in my shop."

"Ri*urp*ght on" said Rick, pumping his fist in the air.

The pizzeria owner turned and stormed back into the restaurant. Steven followed after him and pleaded with the man, saying that it wasn't fair but Kofi Steven out and flipped the sign on the door to "closed". "It was just an accident!" said Steven. Kofi didn't reply.

He turned and left Steven and Rick standing outside.

The young boy looked to Rick, sadly "W-why would he do this?"

"Life isn't always fair" said Rick with a shrug "He's a hardworking man and boom! Some alien chick ruins his sign and roof, costing him hundreds of do*urp*llars. What else could he do?" Steven shrugged.

"Well, I got to get going." said Rick, shoving his hands in his pockets "Got lots of stuff to do." "Ooh, can I come!" asked Steven.

The scientist turned to say no but stopped when he saw Steven give him the puppy dog eyes again. He hesitated for a moment then considered it. Everything told Rick to say no but he then thought about how Pearl berated him and told him to stay away from Steven.

Rick smiled and decided to screw with the Sailor Moon groupies. "Sure, why not" said Rick. He turned and left with Steven following closely behind.

* * *

At Rick's secret lab, Steven watched with fascination as the scientist work on Grom.

The mechanoid's body was back to normal. His arms and legs were straightened out and were comprised of a combination of alloys. Grom's face was polished and had a soft sheen in the light of the work lamps. Steven watched as Rick opened the mechanoid's chest; revealing a hollow chamber that held complex, grey machinery. Inlaid in the center of the machinery was a sphere of glass and metal that gave off a light blue glow.

Rick inserted a cable into a slot at the base of the central machine and there was a soft beep. The half gem watched in curiosity as his friend typed in some commands in a small computer that was connected to the device in Grom and inserted several small cube shaped devices into slots around the core.

Despite being in an awesome secret lab that was filled with cool gadgets and being able to witness Rick piece together a complex robot, Steven couldn't help but feel blue. How could Kofi ban the Gems from Fish Stew Pizza? They were only trying to help.

They've been protecting humanity for a very long time! It was only an accident. Steven had to do something.

"I got to do something" murmured Steven. Rick leaned back in his swivel chair and kicked his feet up on the worktable "Why bother? Y-you should just kick ba*urp*ck and relax."

"But the Gems got banned from Fish Stew Pizza!" said Steven "It's horrible!"

Rick shrugged "Not really. I mean, it's not that great a pizza joint. I think they gave me diarrhea the last time I ate there. Besides, I don't think the three amigos physically need to eat. Advantages of having a body that is basically a hard light construct."

Steven shook his head "But they're our neighbors."

"Your mommy trifecta didn't seem too bro*urp*ken up about it. Kinda looks like they don't like their neighbors."

The half gem thought for a few, long moments in silence. The gems have been saving people for a very long times with no thanks. They weren't the type of people to brag, but it would be nice if the Pizza's got to know the Gems and maybe become friends. If they became friends, maybe Kofi would forget about the roof and forgive them.

"I know!" exclaimed Steven "We'll throw a little party on the beach in front of the temple. Just us and the Pizzas!"

"Good idea!" said Rick with fake enthusiasm "Hey, let me know how that goes." He reached down and pulled out a can of beer from the mini fridge that sat under his worktable and cracked it open.

"And you and Grom will be there too!"

Rick almost choked on his drink. After gulped his drink, the scientist looked at the young boy incredulously "Say what? No, no way! I got a-uh-important meeting coming up. Besides" he gestured to Grom "This bucket of bolts isn't back to full operational capacity and I don't know what will set him off!"

Steven clasped his hands together "Please Rick! I need your help! I can take care of everything; I just need you to help with the Pizza's. You're their friend and you are probably the only one who can help un-ban the Gems."

Rick scowled "Like I said, I got an important job. The guys I'm meeting with hate being ditched."

"You can invite them to the party."

The scientist's eyebrows rose and for a moment he had nothing to say. Rick stroked his chin thoughtfully and eventually asked, "Will there be food?"

"Uh huh!" said Steven, nodding.

The scientist considered a little bit longer. He sighed "Fine. Just make sure that there's lots of meat. No vegan crap or we're all in deep shit."

"You got it!" Steven turned and he quickly climbed the ladder and he left Rick's storage locker. He needed to tell the gems of his plan, invite the Pizzas and get some food for the party.

* * *

Rick and Grom arrived to the party early.

The scientist, still dressed in his trademark lab coat, walked along the shore with his hands in his pockets while his mechanoid companion, dressed in a brightly colored aloha shirt and sunglasses, carried a huge silver keg under one arm and a grocery bag filled to capacity with uncooked meat in the other.

Steven was manning the grill and the gems were just arriving on the beach as well.

"Wha-what up suckas?" greeted Rick with a broad grin and Grom dropped the keg in the sand and waved "Greetings."

Garnet's expression was impassive, Amethyst was enthusiastic and Pearl looked like she saw a ghost. Pearl scowled "What are you doing here?"

"We're here to party!" announced Rick loudly.

The thin gem's eyes narrowed at the scientist "I thought we told you that you are not welcomed around here any more."

He smirked "Yeah, but Steven invited G*urp*rom and myself to help with damage control on your relationship with the Pizzas."

Pearl folded her arms "Well, we don't need your help. We're perfectly fine socializing with humans."

Rick burst out laughing. He jabbed an elbow in his mechanical companion's rib and jabbed a thumb at Pearl. "S-she-ha!...she said that they-ha!" After a moment, Rick managed to regain his breath and noted the confused look that Pearl was giving him.

The scientist sighed, "I'm laughing because you three don't know how to socialize. You three have the social graces of a bull in a china sh*urp*op. You guys are so awkward."

Pearl cocked an eyebrow "What does that mean? We are not awkward!"

"How long have you been living on this planet?"

"Several thousands years"

"And y-yet you have no idea how to interact with humans. I-I mean I hate everyone but I at least know how to carry a conversation and hide the fact that I'm an alien."

"What do you mean by that?" asked Amethyst, appearing at Pearl's side.

Rick glanced at the shorter gem "I-I'm guessing from all the mon*urp*ster hunting and flashy crap you do, I guess that the U.S. government either doesn't know or doesn't care about this stuff or you. If they did, they'd have stormed your house and dragged you all off to some facility already."

"Why would they do that?" asked Pearl, frowning.

The scientist shrugged "I dunno. That's how they usually operate in most universes. I-I-I'd watch my back if I were you. Beware of scary guys in suits." He turned and walked away, with Grom following closely behind with the bag and keg.

As they left the two gems, Grom whispered to Rick "That was rather mean, Mr. Sanchez"

"Pfft, whatever" snorted Rick "Besides, its kinda true. I-I mean why hasn't anyone noticed this" he waved a hand at the huge multi-armed rock structure that was carved into the cliff face that was right next to Steven's house. "I mean seriously, who-who could miss a fricken thing like that!"

"I have a few theories" said Grom

"Oh?"

"The theory that is most likely is that the humans have come to accept the gems and don't care that they are aliens."

Rick nodded a little. That was most likely it. In more realistic situations, there would be panic, fear or something. Then again, Rick remembered that his earth had joined the Federation before he was incarcerated and didn't seem too jittery about it. The scientist felt an uneasy feeling in his gut about that. He shook his head. Now's not the time to think about that.

Steven saw Rick and Grom. He set aside the spatula he was using and ran to meet them. "You guys came!" said Steven with a grin.

Rick nodded "Wouldn't miss it for the world" he turned to Grom "Give him the meat." The mechanoid dropped the shopping bag at the boy's feet.

Steven peered inside and his eyes widened in surprise "That's a lot of food. I don't think we can eat all of this."

"Don't worry, most of it is for my friends."

The young boy looked up at the scientist "These…friends, what are they like? When are they going to get here?"

Rick placed a hand on Steven's shoulder "R-relax, Steven. Everything will be fine. These guys are cool…just as long as you don't offend their honor, insult their Emperor or ma*urp*ke fun of their gods."

Steven nodded slowly, absorbing the information. There was a loud hiss from the grill and a burst of smoke. "The burgers!" exclaimed Steven

"Don't-don't worry, Steven" assured Rick walking over to the grill "I g*urp*ot this." He picked up the spatula and started flipping.

Grom joined his companion, carrying the rest of the meat over. Steven went to the gems and started talking to them.

Minutes passed and voices could be heard from around the wall of rock that separated Steven's part of the beach from the rest.

Kofi and his family rounded the wall of rock and approached Steven and the others. Steven greeted them. Kofi looked calm but from the looks that his family had, the pizzeria owner was still pissed. Steven guided them over towards the gems.

Rick watched as the Gems introduce themselves in typical gem fashion that could only be described as: awkward.

"We are the Crystal Gems!" declared Garnet loudly as she changed her attire in a flash of light. Amethyst and Pearl did the same, practically shouting their names and changing their attire in a brief light show.

Rick rolled his eyes. After he was sure that the burgers and hot dogs were done, the scientist let Grom take over and he approached the assembled partygoers. As he got closer, Rick heard the conversation. "So, you are circus act" sniffed Kofi.

The scientist chuckled loudly. He threw an arm around Kofi's shoulder "Circus act, that's-that's a good one" complimented Rick.

Pearl, Garnet and Amethyst frowned at Kofi, confused by the comment. "Circus act?" questioned Pearl.

Sensing the awkward tension, Steven jumped in. "Time to eat!"

The half gem herded the gems and the recent arrivals to the picnic table that was set up closer to the house and away from the ocean. They each took their seats at the table and Grom set a plate of freshly grilled hot dogs and burgers out in front of the seated guests. Just as they were about to dig in, Steven stopped them. "Wait, shouldn't we wait for the others?"

"Others?" said Garnet questioningly.

"Rick's friends are coming. I let him invite them over to have some food with us."

"Steven…" said Pearl almost disapprovingly

"I think that's rather nice" said Kofi's mother. Kofi nodded in agreement "I'm sure there's no harm in inviting a few friends."

"Yeah, I mean I brought extras" said Rick, nodding to the Grom, who was busy cooking up a huge slab of raw meat, "So, why-why not huh? You're going to deny my friends food? What, are you racist or something?"

Pearl stiffened and fell silent. The thin gem folded her arms "Well…who are they? When will they arrive?"

Before Rick could answer, a dark shadow suddenly blanketed the entire beach. Steven looked and saw that the shadow covered the house, the temple, the lighthouse and the rest of Beach City. The young boy looked up and his jaw dropped in shock at what was causing the shadow. The Gems and the Pizzas looked up as well and were just as shocked. Rick looked up and snorted "About time guys."

Above them was a massive spacecraft that resembled a dart. It was long, angular towards the front and had a number of thrusters, flaps and nodes towards the rear. The craft was made of a dark green metallic alloy that has seen some use. A deep hum filled the air that made everyone's teeth rattle and the table to quake. A small section on the belly of the ship opened, revealing a dot of green light.

On the beach, a few feet away from the table, eight figures appeared in a flash of green light. One was short and hairy, dressed in flowing red and blue robes. The other seven were tall, muscular and dressed in body armor with cloaks that matched the shorter one.

For a several long moments, everyone, except Rick and Grom, were staring up at the gigantic starship in silent awe.

"Hey! Hey!" yelled Rick, trying to be heard over the loud hum of the ship's thrusters "Call off the Battlestar! You're drawing too much attention and you're going to piss off the locals!"

The short figure looked up and waved a claw like hand. The humming grew louder until it was able to rattle anything made of glass within a three-mile radius. Without effort, the starship ascended into the sky, climbing higher and higher until it vanished into the deep blue sky and the humming stopped. It took a moment for everyone to recover from the shock.

When they did, Pearl shot a curious look at Rick "Who is this?" "This is my-uh-friend from work" answer Rick nonchalantly "In fact, let him introduce himself."

The short, hairy figure approached the table. The seven taller beings walked with him, surrounding him on all sides like a wall. When they reached the table, the seven armored beings dispersed, giving the humans and gems a better look at this newcomer.

The being was male. His face was roughly human, with two twinkling violet eyes, a mouth with thin lips, some wrinkles and a thick white beard. White cloudy wisps of hair clung to his balding head and his two small goat-like horns on his brow. The man smiled cheerfully and spoke in heavily accented English, "Pardon my tardiness friends, I was in meeting with chief of business. I had to 'let him go' so to speak." He chuckled boisterously.

Nobody else laughed. The man stopped and a dangerous look appeared on his face.

Suddenly the seven tall bodyguards started chuckling, albeit rather nervously. Rick joined in, followed by Grom. Steven and the others looked confused.

The chuckles lasted for a few more seconds until the short old man raised a hand, silencing them suddenly. The old horned man walked around the table to Rick. He and Rick shook hands and spat at each other's feet. The guests sitting around the table looked at the two in shock.

Rick and the short man turned to the others.

"Ladies and gents, I would like to introduce a friend of mine from work," said Rick, gesturing to the old man "This is Emperor Kam of the Dun'Sa Empire, Lord of a Hundred Systems, Conqueror of the Thousand Clans and rightful king of Dun'la."

The horned man waved a hand grinned "Greetings humans and brightly colored females. I am pleased to join your feast. I do love a good feast!" He paused and looked around, searching for something "Where is karaoke machine?"

"Uh, karaoke machine?" said Rick and Steven in unison

"Yes. Proper feasts in Dun'Sa include much meat, mead and music. Music is critical to celebrations!"

"We-uh-we-we don't have a karaoke machine" answered Rick.

The emperor sighed deeply, punctuating his disappointment but a second later he smiled "Do not worry friends, I have brought my own!" he snapped his fingers. In a flash of green light, a stand appeared. On the stand were a small grey machine, a holographic screen and two large old timey microphones.

The emperor snapped his fingers again and a large, ornate chair made of gold and jewels appeared at the head of the table. He walked over and eased himself into the chair. One of the bodyguards brought forth a plate of burgers and a plastic red cup of beer. The emperor licked his lips with a long purple tongue and was about to dig into his meal but he paused.

He looked up at the seated guests. "Well don't just sit there!" said the emperor "Eat!"

The tension seemed to ease and everyone resumed eating, but was still rather nervous. The bodyguards withdrew from the table and formed a parameter a few feet away. All seven of them turned their backs to the table and began their watch.

As everyone ate, Steven leaned over to Rick and asked in a hushed voice "W-who are these guys?"

"My customers" answered Rick "You wanted me to invite them, reme*urp*ber?"

"But who are they?"

"They're Dun'Salas, a warlike race who rule hundreds of conquered systems. Very easily offended."

"What do we do?"

Rick shrugged "Nothing, I think. Just let these guys eat and party and everything will be fine." Steven felt a little relieved but Rick finished his thought with a whisper "Whatever you do, don't tell them that their singing sucks. They suck at it but its like part of their culture. Insulting their singing it's-it's-it's worse than insulting their mothers and their honor."

Steven thought that the scientist was joking but he saw the seriousness in his eyes. The half gem gulped and nodded in understanding. No problem. It was really simple; everyone was going to eat and play a few rounds of volleyball and hopefully forge a few strong friendships and the destroyed sign would be forgotten.

However, Steven's hopes were deflated when a wave of chattering voices reached his ears. Steven and Rick looked over and saw several dozens of people arriving in droves, all dressed in beach attire and looked ready to party.

Leading them was a moderately handsome young man with spiky black hair in a denim jacket. The young man approached the table but he stopped by one of the armored guards. He said something and tried walking around the large alien but the armored creature grabbed the young human by the throat with a big, gauntleted hand and pinned him to the ground.

Pearl could be heard murmuring, "What now?"

Rick got to his feet and he walked over to the new comer. He patted the muscular guard on the arm "I'll take it from here Schwarzenegger."

The guard released the young man from his grip and trudged back into his position in the parameter. The young man got up and brushed the sand off his face, muttering about harassment.

"Ok, who are you and what do you want?" asked Rick, folding his arms "If your looking for money, beat it, I don't have any cash and the yokels sitting behind me don't either."

"No man, I ain't looking for money" said the spiky haired young man, his voice sounded like a stereotypical surfer dude, "I'm Nick and I got a call about a party or something. Me and my band mates thought we could come down here, play a few songs and maybe score."

"And who called you, if I may ask" asked Pearl, appearing at Rick's side.

The young man scratched his head and thought for a moment, "I dunno lady. The dude just said that we should show up and play a few tunes. We got lost and almost couldn't find the place, if it weren't for the dude back there." He jabbed a thumb over his shoulder to the large group of people that were standing around near the water. Among the men and women of varying age, stood Greg Universe, who waved a hand.

Pearl scowled and turned to Rick "Was this your idea?"

"I don't know" said Rick, scratching his head "I don't remember. Look, I-I-I had a lot of crap on my to-do list today and I honestly don't care. Maybe I did. Since I got roped into this sausage fest, I thought I would invite a few friends. I know that I invited Greg and the Dun'Salas but I don't remember inviting half the friggin' population of the state of California and a band of wannabe musicians!"

Pearl's face gained some color and she looked ready to explode on Rick but a voice called out "Come! Come my friends!"

Rick and Pearl turned and saw the small emperor standing in his seat, waving the recently arrived wave of humans over to the table "Come, eat, drink and revel with us!" The armored guards stepped aside, giving the table some space.

The small horde of humans marched up the beach towards the table, passing Rick and Pearl. The half gem spotted his father and, to his surprise, Connie.

The new arrivals set up beach chairs and laid out towels and started unpacking their own food from the coolers and bags they brought, which relieved Steven a little bit. He didn't mind that they brought their own refreshments or just wanting to hang out on the beach, Steven was a little more worried about Kofi.

What was he thinking about this whole ordeal? He glanced over and saw that the pizzeria owner was conversing with Garnet and a few of the new comers that sat near him. He looked rather happy. Steven smiled. Maybe this party will be a success.

* * *

Nick Valentine unpacked his guitar. He sat on the large mat that was designated the area where he and his group would play. His band mates, a sandy blond haired girl named Ronnie had finished assembling her drums, Carter, the red haired bassist, was tuning his instrument and Ian the keyboardist sat cross-legged on the sand, eating a sandwich. Nick did a quick check and was satisfied.

Just before they were about to do a quick practice, the twenty extra large sodas from before started to make themselves known. The lead singer put his guitar down and ran off to find a bathroom.

Eventually, he found the bathroom with the aid of the old dude named Rick.

Nick, after making sure no one else was inside, locked himself in the bathroom.

After relieving himself, the singer washed his hands and stopped to check himself out in the mirror. _Perfect,_ thought the singer, nodding with satisfaction _not a hair out of place. Damn I look good!_

He paused, noticing a piece of lettuce in his teeth and leaned in closer to the mirror to get a better look. In the corner of his eye there was a blur of movement and suddenly a dark shadow was behind him. Nick looked up and saw a tall, armored figure with a helmet and visor that hid any recognizable features.

He turned and faced the armored being. The stranger was about his height and build. The armor and visor made Nick think of a type of biker from the future or an android assassin from a video game he played once.

Whatever the stranger was, he had a cool getup. A thought came to Nick's mind.

"Dude, how did you get in here?" asked the musician. The figure stood there, still and silent.

Nick scratched his head "I could've sworn I locked the door. Were you in here before me?" No answer. The figure leaned in closer, making Nick feel very uncomfortable and claustrophobic.

"Dude, seriously you need to learn about respecting peoples personal space" he held up a hand to push the stranger back but the armored being grabbed his hand. The musician tried to pull his hand free but his hand was trapped in an iron grip. "Hey, let go of me man!"

The armored figure tilted its head and leaned forward until the smooth, obsidian visor was inches away from Nick's face. A small section of the visor hissed and slid away, revealing a grey, badly scarred mouth with thin lips.

Nick's eyes widened in surprise and the stranger's thin lips curled up into a smile that brandished a row of razor sharp teeth. Before the world faded to black, the young musician's nostrils were filled with the stench of death.

A few minutes later, the spiky haired musician trudged out of the wooden house that belonged to the Universe family. He straightened his denim jacket and slicked back his hair. The musician's band mates waved him over and were anxious to get started.

Their friend apologized for his lateness and they got ready. Before they started, the musician mentioned some inspiring new material he had thought of when he was in the bathroom. His fellows listened as he related his ideas to them, completely unaware of the fraud standing before them, a fraud that was almost a half-inch taller than their real friend.

* * *

The festivities on the beach wore well on into late in the afternoon. Emperor Kam, Rick, Steven, Kofi and a half dozen others took part in Karaoke. Just as Rick said, Emperor Kam wasn't the best but everyone applauded and cheered him on, which made his chest puff up with pride.

Rick, who was pleased that the karaoke machine had a playlist that spanned not only worlds but also universes, did a few crude drinking songs and was half way through a very explicit rap, until Pearl forced him to quit. Kam and a number of others booed a little but Steven cheered them up with a song of his own. After the karaoke got old, the spiky haired musician and his band played.

Rick actually tolerated them. Some of the songs were good and a few sounded strangely familiar. As they played their songs, Steven set up a volleyball net and got Kofi's family, the gems and few other partygoers involved. Splitting into pairs, Steven, the gems and the Pizzas went head to head.

Rick pulled up a beach chair, cracked open another bottle and had Grom provide shade with a huge palm frond. The game was amused the scientist.

The humans were obviously at a disadvantage against the Gems but Steven split them up and paired each of them with a member of Kofi's family.

As the game progressed, Rick had Grom pay close attention to the gems and their abilities, which they flaunted so openly. _Big mistake,_ thought Rick.

* * *

Unbeknownst to the mechanoid and the scientist, a certain denim-wearing musician was approaching them from behind.

The band decided to take five and get some food and drinks. While his band mates were busy refreshing themselves, the one who wore Nick Valentine's face crept up behind Rick Sanchez.

The Fixer flexed his finger and a thin, venom coated blade slid out of the sleeve of his jacket. All he needed to do was prick the human's flesh with this weapon and the venom would cause instant paralysis, rendering Sanchez helpless.

What a fortuitous day! When he heard of this beach party, it provided him with an excellent opportunity to strike.

Rick did invited Steven's father but he told everyone in Beach City about the party. He practically screamed it at the top of his assassin that now approached his prey had alerted the moderately talented band he was using. What further convinced the Fixer that the gods were watching him was the fact that the scientist was out cold, possibly from drinking too much, and his mechanical cohort was busy analyzing the foreign creatures known as "the Crystal Gems", the so-called defenders of humanity.

The assassin snorted. After a few days of intense observation and research, he now knows everything about those silly creatures and their ultimate weakness: the boy named Steven.

Just as he neared his target, the Fixer was knocked off his feet by a powerful blast of air. He was sent tumbling through the sand until he stopped at least a few yard away. Sitting up, the assassin searched for the source of the blast and saw a massive, green and purple puffer fish glide into view.

A spike of anger and annoyance pierced the Fixer's hearts and he was about to throw himself at the creature to exact a painful revenge for interfering but he stopped himself. The puffer unleashed another burst of gale force wind, this time upon Steven, the Gems and Kofi's family.

Sand was thrown into the air, enshrouding the humans and gems playing volleyball. The gems and Pizzas were unharmed and unscathed by the wind, Rick on the other hand… The scientist was on his feet, cussing the puffer out for getting sand in his mouth and eyes.

Rick flipped the puffer off with both of his middle fingers and barked a command to his mechanoid accomplice. Gromulus crouched down and launched himself into the air with a single, powerful leap. The mechanoid soared over the puffer. Before the floating fish could react, Grom landed on him. The sharp quills ripped into his aloha shirt but hardly scuffed the mechanoid's armor as he grabbed on.

Angry, the puffer bucked and thrashed in an attempt to throw off the unwanted passenger but Grom held on tightly. The puffer unleashed a quick blast of wind, throwing up more sand but also sent towels, coolers, and cups flying. People scurried around in an attempt to keep their belongings, and themselves, from being blown away.

Grom cocked his fist and delivered a powerful punch into the puffer's side, knocking the air out of it. The puffer deflated and plummeted into the ocean.

Rick crowed and flipped off the downed puffer "Yeah bitch! Suck on that!"

The partygoers all sighed and relaxed, thinking that the danger was passed. They were wrong.

The Fixer spied a large shadow approaching the beach. Before anyone could react, a new monster emerged from the water. This new creature was larger than the puffer fish easily. The creature was a sleek, slender dragon that had deep red eyes, glittering blue sapphire scales and a huge, triangular sapphire stuck in its narrow, serpentine forehead. The dragon's jaw opened and it let out a powerful roar that made the beach shake a little.

It was then that all hell broke loose. People began retreating from the shoreline, screaming and clutching whatever they were carrying.

The Fixer scowled and felt a strong urge to slaughter this dragon but in order to protect his cover, he decided against it. His blade slid back into its sheath, hidden in his sleeve. Without a word, the fake Nick Valentine turned and ran away.

* * *

The Gems summoned their respective weapons and jumped into action. Amethyst used her whip to latch onto the dragon's snout and she pulled with all her strength. The dragon fought back by pulling the gem off her feet and with a whip of his head, flung the purple gem into the ocean.

Garnet delivered a punch to the dragon's jaw, causing the blue behemoth to sway and Pearl came in with a thrust of her spear to the creature's eye.

Pained, the dragon roared and snapped at Pearl. Pearl was fast but not fast enough, as the dragon caught Pearl's leg and chucked her into the sand. Quick as a flash, the dragon rounded on Garnet and unleashed a jet of blue flames. Garnet blocked the flames in time but the heat and intensity of the flames forced her away.

The dragon turned back to the downed gem on the beach. Pearl barely recovered from being thrown like a ragdoll. The world seemed to spin as she picked herself up off the sandy ground.

She looked up in time to see the dragon rear back and prepare himself to attack. The thin gem raised an arm, bracing for the pain. Before the beast could attack, a blast of green energy struck the dragon's other eye. Howling with pain, the dragon backed away, just as another blast of green light strike the dragon in the nose. Pearl looked back and saw Rick standing there with his blaster. The scientist hooted and bellowed at the beast "Yeah! Gets some!"

She blinked in surprise. "Huh?" was all that she could manage.

Rick rolled his eyes at her "Please, don't thank me. I was me*burrp*rely doing my civic duty ma'am." The scientist raised his gun and fired off a few more shots. Pearl was a little dazed. Did he just save her, even after how she treated him? To Pearl, Rick was nothing more than a filthy, vulgar human who would probably betray them for no reason other than for personal gain. But now...she wasn't as sure anymore.

The thin gem was brought back to reality when there was a terrified shriek. Pearl was surprised as the dragon lunge forward in burst of incredible speed. The spear-wielding gem and the human scientist were ready for him but the dragon bypassed them and snatched up Emperor Kam up in its powerful jaws.

Before anyone could react, the dragon threw back his head and gulped down the tiny monarch. All went silent for a few moments.

All the humans who were huddled together near Steven's home all looked horrified at what had happened. Pearl and Garnet were in shock, but Rick and the emperor's guards were calm. The sapphire beast turned and was ready to cobble the rest of the partygoers but he stopped.

The human scientist smiled "Dumbass."

Pearl looked at him "What?"

"He shouldn't have done that"

"Why not?"

"Like I said, Dun'Sala are a warlike race. Wars for them is like the Super Bowl for humans." Pearl merely gave him a confused look.

A loud grumbling sound came from the dragon's belly that caused the gem monster to let out a moan. Without warning, the gem monster threw back its head and let out a pained howl. A large, hairy fist suddenly burst from the gem monster's belly. The air soon became filled with the gem monster's loud, agonized howling as a pair of hairy fists clawed a huge hole in the monster's gut. Within seconds, a large muscular creature with horns crawled out of the hole in the gem monster.

Pearl instinctively raised her spear to defend herself. The creature was twice Rick's height, built like a large boulder and looked powerful enough to rip apart metal. Sniffing the air, the creature searched around him. He eyed the gems and Rick but paid them no further heed. The muscular creature turned and faced the dragon.

Despite the huge hole in its gut, the gem monster remained standing and looked furious. With a bit of effort, the gem monster healed itself. The hole sealed itself up with a brief glow of light blue. The hairy beast grinned and pounded its barreled chest with a beefy fist, bellowing in a challenge at the gem monster in an alien language. Pearl watched with horror and fascination as the two monsters engage.

"What on earth is that?" asked Garnet.

"Emperor Kam" said Rick, sounding annoyed "Jeez, you guys are a broken record. Don't you guys know anything about other aliens?" Pearl and Garnet didn't respond. They were busy watching the hairy monster that is Emperor Kam deliver a mighty punch to the dragon's jaw, which knocked some teeth loose.

Pearl flinched. That had to hurt. The dragon recovered and lunged at Kam with astonishing speed but the emperor dodged with an impossible speed that surpassed his foe's and delivered another punch. The gem monster went down and before he could recover, the emperor jumped onto him and began to rain blow after savage blow upon the wounded creature.

In a matter of seconds, the sapphire dragon was rendered immobile and toothless. Silence fell on the beach. The Gems and humans stared at the felled dragon and the hairy monster that was Kam.

Emperor Kam muttered something in a deep, gravelly voice and sniffed and spat a glob of phlegm on his fallen adversary. He circled the body of his foe and with a little effort, ripped the triangular sapphire free from the defeated creature's head. In a puff of smoke and light, the dragon vanished and all that remained of the monster was the beautiful gem in emperor Kam's hand.

For a long moment, nobody said anything. The only sound that could be heard was the sea breeze and the lapping of the ocean waves. Some splashing brought Pearl's attention back towards the sea. Grom walked out of the sea, carrying a gemstone in one hand and Amethyst with the other. His brightly colored aloha shirt was torn to ribbons and had long pieces of seaweed draped around his shoulders but looked unfazed.

The robot dropped Amethyst on the shore and joined Rick side. Grom looked at Kam, then to the frightened humans then to Rick.

"Did I miss something?" asked the robot innocently.

Suddenly, the partygoers erupted into cheers and applause. "Yeah, everything" muttered Rick, taking a drink from his flask.

* * *

Dusk came and the partygoers had all gone home, except Emperor Kam and his bodyguards.

Steven glanced around him and saw that the beach was covered in crushed cans, paper napkins, half eaten food and other litter from the party. Hovering above was the massive starship that brought the alien monarch. Standing beside Steven was Rick, who was conducting some last minute business with Emperor Kam.

After the clash between Kam and the dragon, the people thanked him and complimented him on how he destroyed the gem monster.

Kam glowed with pride and gladly basked in their praise. With some prodding, Pearl was able to retrieve the gemstone from him and put it in a bubble. Shortly after the monster battle, the people continued to party like nothing happened.

Steven was amazed at how Kam battled the monster and somewhat relieved that the emperor was fine. Kam shrugged saying that he can take care of himself and that he fought worse on his home world as a child.

Eventually, as the day wound down, the crowd of people who came to the party slowly shrunk.

Before they left, Kofi reluctantly apologized for being harsh and judgmental towards the gems. He unbanned them and welcomed them to his pizza shop any time they liked. Steven was pleased that the beach party worked, although he didn't intend to have so many other people arrive and have monsters fight. But it was cool to see another alien and how they fought.

Rick had Grom delivered a few crates to the beach and laid them in front of Kam and his bodyguards. The guards opened the crates and inspected them. After a quick check, the guards nodded and closed the crates. They handed Rick a metal suitcase and in a flash of green light, the crates vanished.

Emperor Kam nodded "Thank you, Rick Sanchez. You have done us a great service."

"No problem" said Rick with a shrug "Just doing my job."

"I haven't had this much fun in years. I may return one day."

"Sure-sure thing man. Stop by anytime you want!"

Kam grinned "I may take up your offer." He let out a high-pitched screech and spat a glob of slime at Rick's feet. The emperor's guards did likewise and with a flash of light, all of them vanished. The starship rumbled to life and flew away, climbing higher and higher into the orange sky.

Once the ship was gone, Steven turned to Rick "He's-he's going to come back is he?"

Rick shrugged "He might. If so, we-we-we would need to party harder than before and-and-and have more death battles and blood." Steven grimaced and began to look green. The scientist saw and quickly added "Buuuuut, that doesn't seem likely."

The young boy perked up a little.

Rick smiled a little "Ya know, I-I think today was a success. Had a pretty good party and I made a couple hundred thousand flurbos today! All in all, not too bad kid!"

"Rick?" said a voice.

Rick and Steven turned and saw Pearl standing there. The pale gem opened her mouth to speak but hesitated for a few moments. Finally, after struggling to find the right words, Pearl muttered something softly and quickly.

Rick tilted his head "I-I'm sorry, what?"

She muttered again.

The scientist cupped a hand to his ear "Say that again, say that one more time."

"I'm sorry" grunted Pearl, blushing a little "I'm sorry for the way I treated you and I want to say thank you for helping me."

Rick smirked "Why Pearl, if I didn't know any better, it sounds like that you care about me." Pearl's face gained even more color.

The scientist laughed, "I'm kidding! I'm kidding! Jeez, don't have a heart attack."

"Does that mean Rick can stay with us again?" asked Steven.

Pearl sighed, "Yes. Just on the condition that he doesn't get you into any more trouble." "Scouts ho*burp*nor" said Rick, holding a hand over his heart.

Almost satisfied, Pearl smiled a little and the three walked back towards the house.

Before they reached the bottom of the front steps, they heard Amethyst cry out "Ugh! The bathroom smells horrible!"

"What a mess!" said Garnet in agreement.

Pearl stopped and threw an annoyed look at Rick.

The scientist frowned at Pearl "What? Not my fault. Besides, why do you care? You guys can't even use the bathroom!" Rick kept walking with Steven.

Pearl stopped and watched as the two humans reach the house. The gem looked around at the littered beach feeling exhaustion and regret. She didn't want to let Rick return but he did help fight the monster and helped eliminate whatever grudge Kofi had.

Having Rick around brought up a major problem: the company he keeps. Rick Sanchez was crude and messy but the people he associates with are probably worse. Emperor Kam's actions against the gem monster were terrifying.

Gem monsters do need to be stopped but what would happen if Kam lost control or turned his rage on Steven or the other humans.

Images of blood and horror flickered to life in her mind.

The pale gem quickly suppressed those horrible thoughts. There wasn't much she could do at this point but Pearl made it her mission to keep a closer eye on Rick and protect Steven from any danger that may come, no matter the cost.

* * *

On the far side of the country, in a cavernous room filled with countless monitors, sat a lonesome man. The man sat reclined in his high backed chair, his light green eyes scanning the numerous monitors vigilantly.

It was a dull task but the man was proud of his job for it was sacred his duty to be a sentinel, to stand watch for the horrors that lay behind their beautiful planet. All those awful, terrible things, each and every monster beyond human imagining, all lurking in the darkness and silence of space, waiting and watching.

The thought of all that evil just made the man's skin crawl.

Late into his shift, one of the monitors began blinking.

Frowning, the silent observer shifted his chair and took a closer look. His heart skipped a beat at the sight of the massive starship, entering and leaving the earth's atmosphere a few hours before. With a flourish of his hand, the observer brought up a holographic keyboard. He punched in a command and he watched the footage more carefully.

The ship entered the earth's atmosphere and had hovered over a section of the U.S. and left.

In the time span of six hours, this ship had left the atmosphere and had hidden beyond his site, probably taking shelter behind one of the moons of Mars.

The observer fast forwarded the footage towards the end and saw it return. It returned to the same section of earth and departs a few minutes later.

 _How interesting,_ thought the man, scratching his disheveled chin and pondered what was on his screen.

Why had a Class 1 _Berserker_ class ship come to earth and not destroy anything? In fact, why was it so attracted to that specific part of the planet?

A few quick keystrokes brought up all available information on that sector. "Beach City?" murmured the man in surprise. That Podunk little town was barely regarded as a good vacation spot and was far from anywhere of note.

With his interest piqued, the observer dug into whatever his database had on this little town and was disappointed by the spotty amounts of information.

All he could find was photos of a rock structure, which was dismissed as a carving done by some locals, and a blog ran by a paranoid local resident. The observer sat back in his chair and laced his fingers together. A battleship of that size does not visit a Podunk little town for a day at the beach.

There was something odd going on there. He would have to take this matter up with the others.

There was a soft chime from two monitors. With not effort, the man's seat shifted to the monitors automatically. The two monitors were side by side, showing two neighboring sectors that were covered by covert cameras.

In one monitor, there was a blur of grey and flash of green light that streaked past the camera's view and vanished into the Earth's atmosphere.

The other showed a small, sleek vessel made of grey metal zoom past the camera. The camera followed the vessel but lost track of it as it suddenly vanished into thin air. The observer felt a chill run down his spine. Two more alien vessels.

He quickly typed in a command and managed to calculate a trajectory of where the two crafts were heading.

The destination just stoked his interest and added more mystery. Beach City.

The observer suddenly felt urgency rise in his stomach. He had to alert the others and fast.

End of Chapter

* * *

 **(a/n: So, what do you think? So, the story will follow SU through Season 1, give or take some time skipping over some episodes. Well, i hope you enjoyed that. Let me know what you think.**

 **Next time: Something strange is happening at Connie's school. With no one else to turn to, Connie turns to Steven, and by extent Rick, for help. What they find is far more terrible than either Connie and Steven could ever imagine.)**


	4. Pt 4: God Save the Queen

**(a/n: Phew, its been a while huh? Please enjoy this rather long chapter as an present and review! Happy Holidays and Merry Christmas!)**

* * *

Part 4: God Save the Queen

Rick bolted upright and looked around in confusion.

His thoughts moved like warm tar as he tried to get a grasp on what was going on and where he was. Things came into focus within a matter of seconds. He was in Steven's living room. The scientist then remembered pulling an all-nighter at the lab, and then he came back and drank a lot, causing him to pass out on the couch.

Rick's head throbbed and his vision was still a little blurry. He groaned and rubbed his forehead, trying to lessen the pain but the loud, rapid knocking at the door only exacerbated it. The scientist waited, hoping the knocking would stop but it didn't.

Instead, the knocking got louder and faster and a voice yelled "Steven! Steven!"

Rick growled and stood up. He went to the door and threw it open. The source of Rick's headache was a girl around Steven's age. She wore a pair of large glasses, had long dark hair and dark skin. The girl looked up at Rick in surprise.

"What do yo*urp*u want?" growled Rick.

"Um, sorry…" said the girl, softly "I-I was just looking for Steven."

"Hold on" Rick turned his head and yelled at the top of his lungs "Yo, Steven! Your girlfriend is here!" Before he could say anything more, Steven appeared at his side, looking confused. He looked outside and saw the girl "Connie!" said Steven, surprised.

The girl, Connie, and Steven both went red and tried to tell Rick that they don't like each other in that way but Rick ignored them and walked away to get a bag of ice.

Steven let Connie in and ask "So, what are you doing here Connie?" "I need your help Steven" said Connie, her eyes were wide and her face had paled a little.

Steven led Connie to the kitchen and he made them both hot chocolate. The two sat at the counter and drank and Connie seemed to relax a little bit.

"Ok, so what's up?" asked Steven, setting aside his mug of hot chocolate "What's wrong?"

"It's my school…there's something bad going on there" said Connie, softly.

"What kind of ba*urp*d are we talking here?" asked Rick, from inside the living room with a bag of ice over his eyes "Drug deals? Cock fights? Bullying? What?"

"I-I think it has something to do with aliens"

Steven frowned "How can you tell?"

Connie took a deep breath and explained. "It started when my teacher, Mrs. Windsor, called in sick. She had a sub come in and at first it didn't seem like a problem. But for the past week or so, she's been gone. When I asked the substitute about what happened but she told me that I shouldn't worry."

"Maybe she's very sick," suggested Steven

"Or down in Miami scoring a little something" added Rick, who was downing a glass of water.

"Well, I'm not sure. But it's not only her" continued Connie "There are others who have gone missing. The gym teacher, some of the lunch ladies, one of the janitors, even some of the students."

"Like I said, Miami. Or Burning Man-uh-I-I don't know" said Rick, rubbing his temples "Do you guys even have Burning Man here?"

Steven ignored Rick and asked, "What makes you think its aliens? They could all be on vacation or…" he trailed off when he saw Connie reach into her backpack and withdraw something. She placed the object on the table and Steven gave her a curious look.

"I found this in the girl's locker room after gym class. I was going to talk to a friend of mine but she was gone. All I found was…this."

"What is it?" asked Rick, who had a bag of ice over his eyes "Describe it to me!"

"I-Its…its a jar of…something" said Steven, struggling to describe what Connie placed in front of him.

Rick grumbled something and he got to his feet. He staggered over. He let out a foul smelling belch and took one look at the jar and stopped.

Sitting on the counter was a small jar that was half filled with a blue gelatinous substance. The scientist frowned and he held it up closer to his face. The substance jiggled a little when he shook the jar and when he twisted open the lid, a rather sweet smell escaped the confines of the jar. Rick raised an eyebrow. He dipped a finger in the squishy substance and scooped out a small blob of it then stuffed it into his mouth. Connie and Steven looked at him in shock.

"Should you be doing that?" asked Connie, looking a little green.

"Probably not" replied Rick. He let the gelatinous blue blob melt in his mouth and waited for some horrible after affect that usually follows such substances. But nothing happened, except a sweet and familiar flavor soothed his taste buds and drowned out the bitter taste in his mouth.

Rick's eyes widened "No way…I can't believe it." "What is it?" asked Steven.

"This-this-this tastes like Colvorian Blue Honey!"

"Col-what?" asked Steven and Connie in unison.

"It's a race of bee people," explained Rick "They make some awesome, super sweet honey and-uh-other things. But, this can't be right. They-they all got wiped out, at least in most universes I've been too."

Connie frowned in confusion "Most universes?"

"I travel through the Mu*urp*ltiverse kid, try to keep up"

"What happened to them?" asked Steven, before Connie could ask any more questions.

Rick shrugged "I don't know. It-it depends on what universe you're in. In one they got wiped out by the Federation, in another it was civil war between Hive Queens. There was one where they got eaten up by a flesh eating disease. It was pretty brutal and kinda badass."

"So what are they doing at my school?"

Rick rolled his eyes at Connie "How the hell am I suppose to know that? I-I-I'm not psychic! But I know that it can't be good."

"Then we got to stop them!" declared the young girl. "Yeah!" agreed Steven, jumping up in his seat.

"Good luck with that!" said Rick, turning and walking back to the couch. "Wait what?" said Steven.

The two children watched as Rick plopped down on the couch and kick his feet up. "Aren't you going to help us?" asked Connie

"Why should I?" replied Rick, coldly "It's not my problem"

"But you said something bad would happen if we don't do something" said Steven

"Look, kids, I got a massive hangover. I did an all-nighter last night and I don't feel like doing anything today. Why-why don't you guys go and play in traffic or something? I'm sure everything will be fine by tomorrow…probably."

Connie looked at the scientist in disbelief "So you're not going to do anything? You're just going to sit there and let all those people die or get eaten or whatever?"

"Yep!" Rick glanced around "Where's Grom? He went to the store two hours ago, he should've been back by now."

"How could you just sit there and do nothing?" said Connie, mortified.

"Easy, I just sit here on my ass and try and get this damn headache to stop."

Connie stared at the scientist in shock. She opened her mouth to say more but Steven spoke up "Come on Rick, you got to help us!"

"No I don't!"

"Yes you do, unless I tell Pearl and Garnet about…"

Rick frowned and he fixed the half gem a dark look. "About what?" said Rick, his tone grew dangerous.

"A-about you letting us go alone on this investigation, even though you were supposed to be watching us" answered Steven, nervously "and that you've been drinking again".

A few beads of sweat appeared on Steven's forehead. Rick stared at Steven for a few long moments, looking as if he were ferocious beast studying his prey. After a few moments of silence, the old man threw his hands up in the air "Ugh, fine! I'll help. But if I get shot or stabbed or poisoned or what-what-whatever, I'm going to kick your ass!"

"Ok!" said Steven, looking rather relieved.

The front door opened, revealing a green, spiky haired young man in a t-shirt standing there with a bag of groceries in one arm. Connie recognized him from the beach party but didn't really know who, or what, he was.

"About time you show up Grom!" grunted Rick, impatiently.

"I apologize, but there were lines all around the block for the bargain sale," replied the green guy. He reached into the brown paper grocery bag and withdrew a bottle of aspirin and tossed it to Rick. Rick caught it and opened it. He popped a few pills into his mouth and swallowed.

After taking his meds, Rick barked at Grom "Grom, get the car! We're going to do some investigating!"

* * *

Later that evening, Rick, Steven, Grom and Connie were sitting silently, watching the school intently.

All four were currently crammed into the saucer shaped car. The flying car was parked behind some bushes across from Connie's school. The large concrete and glass box of a building was silent and devoid of activity, except for the lone light that shone from the window of the front office on the ground floor. Rick and Grom sat in the front, with Rick munching on a burrito and guzzling down his soda, while Grom was scanning the school building with his cybernetic eyes. Meanwhile Connie and Steven were crammed in the back among a stack of boxes with alien markings on them, trying to keep a vigilant watch of the building.

The group left Steven's place earlier that afternoon but Connie pointed out that they should probably wait until everyone at the school building was gone. Grom estimated that it would be around nightfall, so Rick decided that they should get supplies for their stakeout. The four stopped at a convenience store and bought what they needed then left. For an hour, they flew around Beach City. Connie was amazed by the fact that they were flying around in a flying car, which reminded her of a new book she was reading. Feeling bored and not very chatty, Rick decided that they should begin their stakeout. Which brings them to the bushes outside the school.

Although the sun was now setting on the horizon, the school still had a few occupants.

"Shouldn't they be home now?" asked Connie, surprised at how long they were waiting.

Rick shrugged "Teachers w*urp*ork hard. That's the school system for you; work day in and day out for very little pay, taking care of a bunch of snot nosed little bas-"

"He's leaving" announced Grom.

Rick, Connie and Steven peered out the window and saw a balding, older man lock the front doors and went to his car. Once the man's car was out of sight, Rick started his car up and grumbled "Finally!"

The car ascended from its hiding place and glided over to the school building. The flying craft landed on the roof and Rick cut the engines. Rick and the others hopped out. The scientist nodded to Grom. The mechanoid's arm transformed and became a device that resembled a blowtorch. Rick gestured for Steven and Connie to stand aside. They obeyed and Grom knelt down and got to work. The mechanoid, using the blowtorch, sliced a large, circular opening into the roof.

When he was finished, the round sliced portion of roof fell away, leaving a big hole in the roof. The inside was dark and difficult to see. Without being told, Grom hopped into the breach and there was a thud and a loud crash.

"Oh my gosh!" exclaimed Connie. Steven and Connie peered into the dark interior and saw a shaft of white light appear, casting a bit of illumination on the dark. Grom was lying face up on the floor, on top of a crushed desk. "Are you ok?" asked Steven.

"Affirmative" came the reply.

Rick, Connie and Steven hopped in and Grom caught each of them. Upon further inspection, Rick and the others found themselves inside a classroom. Scattered about the dark room were more desks, some chalk boards and a bunch of posters on planets, atoms and the periodic table of elements. Connie looked around the room for a few moments then surmised where they were. "We're in one of the science labs"

"No shit Sherlock" murmured Rick "So, where do we start? I-I-I mean this is your school and your investigation. Where is the first place that we should check out?"

Connie winced at Rick's vulgarity but she considered their next move carefully.

After a minute, Connie pointed toward the door "We'll go down to the ground floor near the locker rooms and start looking there"

"Alright."

"We can split up and search for clues," suggested Steven "Like in those detective shows."

Rick shook his head "No can do. First rule of horror movies: never split up. If there is something going on here, we'll need to stick together"

"Safer in numbers?" said Connie

"Yeah-yeah, so-something like that."

"Mr. Sanchez prefers to keep his meat shields -" added Grom, who earned an elbow to his gut, which made him stop suddenly. The four departed from the dark science classroom.

As they left, something moved in the darkness of the science room behind them. Once they were gone, the dark presence watched them through the small glass window in the door. When they were out of sight, the dark presence let out a low, growl with some clicking.

Silently and swiftly, the dark presence scuttled away from the door and crawled into the air vent on the ceiling.

* * *

Rick and the others walked carefully and quietly down the hall. Rows of lockers stood sentinel as they passed. Connie was nervous about this whole experience, Rick looked bored and wished to be elsewhere but Steven was in a world of wonder. He had never been in a school before. He's seen a few movies and TV shows that featured some brief scenes in a school. It always fascinated Steven but his curiosity remained just that, curiosity. One time he asked the gems about school but they didn't have an answer for him.

On the ground floor, the small group passed a large display cabinet that contained a dozen trophies and ribbons of various sizes and colors. Steven paused for a moment to look at the displays. He stared in awe at all the trophies and all the photographed moments. "Whoa, you guys got a lot of trophies!"

"Yep" said Connie, proud "Our school has the best sports program in the state"

"Yeah, unlike mine" snorted Rick, folding his arms.

Steven pressed his face against the glass and looked at all the frozen memories and smiling faces contained within. These people looked like they were all having fun and were happy. A dull aching feeling emerged within Steven and it felt something like loneliness, maybe jealousy but he couldn't place it. The group moved on and reached the locker rooms.

The locker rooms were devoid of life. Soft, white light from Grom's shoulder and Rick's flashlight provided enough illumination to see but not enough to banish a creepy, crawly feeling that plagued Connie and Steven. Connie led them down to the far end of the locker room and showed Rick where she found the blue honey. The area was a small section of lockers that sat up against the far wall and sat near a drain.

The scientist pulled out a small device and he aimed it at the portion of the tiled floor near the mouth of the drain. The device beeped a few times then it let out a chime and the small screen blinked green. "Oh boy…" murmured Rick.

"What does that mean?" asked Steven.

"It means that I was right, as always. There are some traces of Colvorian DNA, along with some bits of human DNA and dog hairs. E-either someone was having a really freaky orgy or…"

"Or what?" pressed Connie

"Or the Colvorians are starting to feed."

"Is that bad?"

Rick nodded "Oh yeah. It means pack your bags and get the hell out of dodge as soon as you can. If the Colvorians are feeding, it's-it's-it's game over man, game over!"

Steven frowned "Why would that be bad? Can't we just feed them? I mean, we got a lot of food we can share"

"S-Steve-Steven, I don't think you understand. Colvorians aren't like people. They eat everything, including people!" Connie and Steven gasped.

"What?" exclaimed Connie "I thought they were like bees? Bees don't eat people!"

"Not Earth born bees" replied Rick, calmly "These guys are distant half cousins to our bees but they-they mostly belong to a nasty family of blood hungry insects from the Caldus Nebula".

Connie and Steven shared a worried look. The Colvorians sounded worse and worse with each minute but the two young children couldn't just give up, not with the entire world now in jeopardy.

"We can't give up, not now" said Connie "we have to save these people and stop these bees"

Rick groaned. He opened his mouth to complain but nothing came out because he was trying his best not to explode on the children. Eventually, Rick let out an even louder groan "Ugggh, you're killing me smalls!" The two kids looked at him strangely.

"Look, I-I-I don't know if I can stop these guys. Typically it takes more than a few of people and a bag of explosives to stop a new hive. In most universes, it took the combined might of the Galactic Federation, several interstellar warlords and the Conglomerate to, at minimum, halt their advance when they tried to swarm neighboring populated systems."

Connie frowned "That sounds bad"

"Trust me, it is b*urp*ad. Especially now that they're feeding on live meat"

"Why is that bad again?" asked Steven.

Rick sighed deeply. He was tried of repeating himself but he decided to humor the kid and at least warn them of the hell storm that they were going to stumble into "Beca*urp*use that means the Hive Queen is preparing for the birth of her larvae. They require a lot, and I do mean a lot, of food. Your friends just happen to be on the menu tonight."

Connie's face turned green "Oh my…"

Rick nodded slowly "Yeah. As far as my scans say, they are located…" He stopped. The scientist reached into his coat and drew his blaster. He spun around and aimed his weapon at the behind him darkness.

"W-what is it?" asked Steven, nervously.

"Shut up" grunted Rick. The entire locker room went silent. For several moments nobody moved or said anything. Grom's eyes scanned the darkness until they were locked on to a shadowed corner of the locker room. Rick nodded and he shifted his aim. Softly, the scientist told Steven and Connie "On the count of three, I'll shoot this thing and you guys circle around and take 'em from behind"

"What?" hissed Connie "You can't be serious"

"Hell yeah I am!"

Before Connie or Steven could protest, the unseen enemy emerged from the dark in response, Grom's arms transformed into a pair of futuristic plasma cannons that hummed to life and glowed bright blue. Before the mechanoid could unleash a barrage of superheated plasma, Steven cried "Lion!" He rushed over to the creature's side and threw his arms around its fluffy mane.

Rick frowned and told his mechanoid companion to stand down. The scientist studied the creature that they almost shot to oblivion. It was a large, pink lion. He watched with some interest as Steven was hugging it, stroking its puffy light pink mane and jabbering about stuff Rick didn't care about. Steven explained that the pink lion, aptly known as Lion, was actually his friend and pet.

For a moment, Rick felt a mixture of relief and a bit of respect. The kid had a pet lion? That was pretty badass, although the color was not what Rick would've chosen for the creature but that wasn't important.

After the explanations and introductions were done, Rick reminded them of their mission and he strode out of the locker rooms briskly with the two children following closely behind him and Lion and Grom bringing up the rear. The genetic trail led the team down another dark hall.

Rick's scanner beeped softly like a tiny electronic heartbeat. Grom and Steven used their lights to illuminate the way.

They took a left, then a right, and then the trail led them down a few flights of stairs until they reached a locked door. Rick moved to pick the lock but he decided that they didn't have time. He nodded to Grom. The mechanoid strolled over and kicked the door. The door was torn off its hinges, went flying a few feet down a long, narrow corridor and landed with a crash.

Connie looked like she was going to have a heart attack but Rick assured her that if they bothered with etiquette, there wouldn't be a school left to worry about. Rick took lead, followed by the kids, Lion and Grom brought up the rear. The scanner beeped louder and faster as they followed the narrow corridor, passing a few doors and a new hallway that diverged off to their left, until they reached a locked door at the end of the corridor.

The scanner's screen was flashing non-stop and Rick flicked a switch and the device went silent.

Rick rested his ear on the door and tried to hear if anything was there but only heard something that was muffled by the door. The scientist glanced back to Grom and motioned him on. The mechanoid pushed past Connie and Steven. The mechanical young man's arms transformed into a pair of twin plasma cannons again and, once he was ready, he kicked the door open. The door flew open with a bang and there were some squeals in surprise. Grom's eyes glowed red and stomped into the dark room.

Rick, Connie and Steven heard Grom announce in a deep, electronically distorted voice "Surrender now flesh bags or be incinerated for the glory of the Conglomerate!" There were some screams and Grom unleashed hell. Flashes of brilliant blue light erupted from the dark and things went silent and dark.

After a minute of waiting, Rick poked his head inside and saw, to his amazement, a middle aged man and a rather attractive blond woman huddled in a corner. Steven poked his head in and shined his light into the partially illuminated dark. The room Grom bombarded was a large storage room that looked big enough to house several large trucks. Black scorch marks completely covered the concrete walls. Grom's arms returned to their normal state, his eyes stopped glowing that demonic red and his normal voice announced, "Room cleared."

"Yeah, I-I think you missed a spot there, Terminator" snorted Rick.

Connie stuck her head in and gaped at the room. Her eyes landed on the two adults huddling in the corner. "Principle Sampson? Mrs. Summers?" said Connie, shock and confusion written all over her face.

The two adults looked at the young girl with dazed and confused looks for a few moments then they snapped back to reality. The faculty members jumped to their feet, brushing dust off their rumpled clothes and Rick noticed the Sampson was buttoning up his shirt and the Summers woman was brushing the wrinkles out of her skirt and blouse. The scientist instantly knew what they were doing here and suddenly felt a little embarrassed.

Rick was no prude by any definition, but it is a little awkward when someone storms into your room, guns blazing and dragging along a pair of kids and a fuzzy pink lion, only to stumble upon you and your hot lady friend and killing the groove you got going.

"What are you doing here?" asked Connie, totally oblivious to what the two were really up to.

"We-we-uh-we were down here looking for some office supplies" lied Mr. Sampson, adjusting his crooked necktie nervously "We keep a bunch of supplies down here"

"And-and I was helping him" added Mrs. Summers, quickly.

Before either of the two children could register what the two faculty members lie, Rick jumped in.

"L-L-Look, Grom's sorry for barging in here and nearly disintegrating you-"

"I am?" asked the mechanoid, confused

"-but you two haven't seen a giant humanoid bee person come through here, have you? Or at least a tunnel or some weird scratch marks?" Mr. Sampson and Mrs. Summers both gave Rick confused but replied with a "no."

Rick scowled and ordered Grom to do a full scan on the two dazed faculty members and on the rest of the basement. The mechanoid's cybernetic eyes looked them over a few times and he reported that they were fully human and had no trace of Colvorian DNA on them and that the genetic trail they were following had ended there. Rick cursed and started to pace around, trying to recalibrate his scanner.

Meanwhile, the two dazed adults turned to Connie and Steven.

"Connie, what on earth are you doing here at this late hour?" demanded Mr. Sampson "Who is this man? And…" he stopped. He looked at Steven for a few good seconds then asked "And who is this? I know almost every child and teenager in Beach City but I don't believe I know this young man."

"Oh, right, uh-well, uh" said Connie, nervous "This is Steven, he doesn't go to school here."

"What school does he go to?"

"He's-uh-he's homeschooled."

The principle studied Connie's expression for a moment then he turned to Steven. "Nice to meet you Steven" greeted Principle Sampson "I'm Principle Sampson."

"Principle?"

"He's in charge of the school," offered Connie.

Steven nodded, understanding. Mrs. Summers eyed Rick nervously as he was slamming his scanner against a wall and Grom was standing there, staring the two faculty members down with his glowing cybernetic eyes.

"Uh, Connie, who are your…other friends?"

"That's Rick and that's Grom. They're here to help us find out what's been happening around this school"

Mr. Sampson sighed, "Connie, I have told you already, there is nothing going on."

"N-Not from where I'm standing" chimed Rick, mischievously.

"What about Mrs. Windsor?" asked Connie

"I already told you, Mrs. Windsor is sick and she is staying with family, recovering. In fact, she called this morning and said she will be back within a week, once she's feeling better."

Connie blinked in surprise. "She did?"

Mr. Sampson nodded "Yes."

"But what about the gym teacher and the lunch ladies!" "And the students?" added Steven.

"Mr. Snell is at a conference in Washington, the lunch ladies and those students are all out sick due to the flu that has been going around lately," answered Mr. Sampson calmly.

Connie opened her mouth to argue but she had no words. She knew that something off was going on but Mr. Sampson could be right. From his perspective, the absence of Mrs. Windsor and the other students were just simple illnesses or business trips and the blue jam could easily be explained as some weird goop leaking from the pipes. This school was still relatively new but students have been finding some weird gooey stuff leaking from the pipes around the school a number of times before the disappearances.

But Rick recognized the taste of the goop and Connie couldn't shake this disturbing feeling that something wasn't right about what was going on at this school.

Mr. Sampson turned to Rick "And you sir! Who on earth are you? Why did you and your friend attack us?"

"Look, its an honest mistake" said Rick, insincerely "Besides, we-we-we ha*urp*ve a problem here"

"What is it?" asked Connie

"We lost the trail."

"How?" asked Steven.

Rick shrugged "I don't know. My scanner hasn't been working lately, so it might just need a reboot or…" he stopped and his eyes became wide like dinner plates.

Everyone looked at Rick questioningly "What is it? What's wrong?" asked Steven.

"I-I think I know why the trail went cold" said Rick, softly "I think that the trail ends here and-and-and that the Colvorian is hiding somewhere close. In fact, it might even-" suddenly there was a loud crash and a cloud of dust and mortar enveloped them.

Through the thick cloud, Connie could hear Mrs. Summers scream and see Mr. Sampson's shape stumble about in confusion. There were some scuttling sounds and Connie saw, to her horror, a large, alien shape lunge for Mr. Sampson and his shape disappeared in an instant. More scuttling followed and Mrs. Summers screamed even louder.

"Get down!" bellowed Rick.

Connie and Steven obeyed. There were some flashes of blinding blue light in the cloud, casting long flickering shadows. Steven and Connie watched, feeling the cold, icy hand of fear grip their hearts. The silhouettes of Mrs. Summers, Rick and Grom could be seen standing before a large, hunched over figure with mandibles and multiple pincers thrashing and lunging for them. One of the arms snatched Mrs. Summers and she vanished. Grom fired another few shots and missed.

Suddenly, one of the pincers caught on to Rick's leg. "Damn it!" snarled Rick.

Grom caught Rick's arm as the attack tried pulling the scientist towards him. With some effort, Steven and Connie shoved aside their fears and jumped to their feet. The two children ran to Grom's side to help but stopped when they saw that the mechanoid was having a tug of war with their mysterious attacker.

Their attacker was hidden within the large, gaping hole in the wall that it burst through. Connie could see that its pincer hand held Rick's ankle in an iron vice.

"Come-Come on you little shits pull!" yelled Rick at Grom and the children.

Grom nodded and tried to pull but the chittering creature that held on to his friend's leg responded in kind. Rick yelped in pain and he aimed his blaster and fired off a couple of shots into the shadowy breach. A few of the energy bursts sailed passed its target but the rest hit their mark, striking the creature on the head and chest. Connie and Steven both were sure that the creature would fall but were shocked to see that the shots had no effect.

"Damn it!" grunted Rick "Somebody do something!"

"I got it!" cried Steven. He summoned his shield and with every ounce of strength he had, the half gem hurled his shield at the monster like a frisbee. The shield struck its target and returned to Steven's hand. Steven let out a triumphant "Wahooo!" but fell silent when the creature let out a loud, furious hiss and emerged from the shadows of the breach in the wall.

The creature looked like a mutated humanoid/honeybee hybrid that devoured a steroid factory. The creature had large insect like eyes, antennae with a tough gold and black chitinous hide. His maw was filled with thousands of needle-like teeth, snapping angrily at them.

"Nice going!" grunted Rick "You just pissed him off!" The monstrous bee let out a mighty roar that made Steven's teeth rattle.

Quickly, Grom used a free hand to summon a plasma cannon and fired off a shot. The energy burst struck the bee monster's hide and splashed against it like water on rock. However, Connie saw some steam rising from where the shots hit and heard some faint sizzling.

"Keep firing, it's working!" cried Connie.

Grom nodded and moved to fire again but the bee retaliated by lobbing a chunk of concrete at the mechanoid's head. Grom's head was knocked back with a crack. His grip on Rick slackened just enough for the monster to rip the scientist free from the machine's grip.

Rick quickly was pulled into the darkness, screaming "Son of a Biiiiiitttttccccchhhh!"

Rick's scream quickly faded into the dark and within seconds, all was silent.

An awful, cold silence fell on Connie and Steven. The two sat there in the now empty storage room, alone and covered in dust and flakes of mortar. After another minute or two, Steven managed to snap out of his shock and daze.

"We-we-we got to go!" sputtered Steven "We-we-we-we got to go get the gems!"

"No, we can't" said Connie, sounding unusually calm.

"Why not? Did you see the size of that thing? He's huge and unstoppable!"

"Yes he's huge but he's not invincible. Grom's weapons almost melted part of its hide" she turned to the mechanoid as he stood up. "Right?"

"Indeed" replied Grom "I only require a clearer shot and a stronger weapon, of which I possess several, and I will be able to exterminate this threat."

"But why can't we go to the gems?"

"We won't reach them in time. That-that bee thing is going to eat Mr. Sampson, Mrs. Summers and Rick before we could get to the gems."

Steven thought for a moment then realized that Connie was right. Who knows how long it would take for them to get to the gems and convince them to help. Lion could probably give them a ride back to the house but the large pink animal was hardly cooperative, even on a good day. Besides, who knew if they would be able to return and rescue Rick in time after explaining everything to the gems and convincing them to follow them.

"I concur with the female known as Connie," said Grom in his usual monotone voice "By my estimations, we would be two hours too late to rescue Mr. Sanchez and the others if we leave to collect reinforcements."

"Why two hours?" asked Connie.

"Taking in to account the time that it would take for us to reach Steven's home and return to the school and traverse the vast network of tunnels beneath the school will and-"

"Tunnels?" interrupted Steven.

Grom nodded "Yes. I discovered them from the scans that Mr. Sanchez had me do. I have detected a fairly extensive system of tunnels beneath the school. I was about to alert him to the fact but the Colvorian drone attacked."

"Can you tell where the bee thing took Rick and Mr. Sampson?" asked Connie.

Grom was quiet for a moment. His eyes seemed to go unfocused for a moment then the mechanoid seemed to refocus. Grom nodded slowly "Based on my thermal sensors and the vibrations from the movements of our target, I am eighty-three percent sure that I can. From my current reading, the Colvorian drone is moving toward an unknown location at a distance of two and a half miles north of the school and at least half a mile underground."

Connie and Steven shared a concerned look then looked to Grom. "Two and a half miles?" repeated Connie "We'll never catch him in time!"

"Not if the lion and myself carry the two of you" explained Grom, calmly "We can move much faster than the two of you and we will reach Mr. Sanchez in no time."

Connie nodded. Steven nodded as well but he felt a little afraid to venture into a dark tunnel where a monstrous honeybee could be waiting to ambush them. But Connie seemed determined to go after Rick and Lion gave the half gem a reassuring nudge.

Steven swallowed and he declared solemnly, "Lets go!"

* * *

Lion and Grom took off down the tunnel at an astonishing speed, carrying Connie and Steven along. Grom's shoulder light was the only thing providing light in this seemingly endless dark tunnel. Connie was surprised to see how large and how cleanly dug out the tunnel was. It was square in shape with solid, roughly cut chunks of wood shoring up the walls and holding up the ceiling.

The deeper they went the bigger the tunnels got. They branched off, leading deeper into the earth and into darkness. Grom and Lion carried the two children straight forward, taking a few lefts and some rights whenever they came to a fork in the tunnel. A few of those turn ended up in dead ends, forcing them to double back and try another route.

Connie felt anxiety crawling through her whenever they hit a dead end. She wasn't claustrophobic by any definition of the word but she was starting to develop a fear of being trapped deep underground in complete darkness and with a giant killer alien bee. Regardless, Connie remained adamant. It was up to Steven and herself to save the world. She wasn't a huge fan of teachers or school, but Mrs. Windsor and the other faculty members were good and innocent people and someone had to rescue them.

The deeper they delved into the network of tunnels, Connie and Steven spotted some bits of honeycomb the size of car tires on the ceiling and on some sections of the walls. Grom observed them and announced that they were on the right path. The rescue party passed through a massive chamber covered entirely by even more honeycombs.

"This is amazing!" breathed Connie, astonished at the chamber they passed through and momentarily forgetting her anxiety. The academic in Connie wanted to stop and analyze these amazing specimens but she remembered where they came from and the urgent task at hand.

"Yes," agreed Grom "It is amazing. Colvorian honeycombs are not only used to store their eggs and honey, but they are also used in the construction of their spacefaring vessels and their dwellings."

"Whoa" said Steven, awed.

"Really?" asked Connie, impressed.

"Yes. Colvorian honeycombs are strong enough to withstand the vacuum of space, are incredibly durable against impacts at high velocities, and are good against heat and radiation."

"Wow! You know a lot about these Colvorians," said Connie, impressed.

Grom smiled and responded, "I am a host drone. I have been programmed to guide, socialize and inform at one of the finest vacation resorts in the entire universe. My databanks contain the most extensive and up to date information of the known universe."

"Really?" gaped Steven, amazed "So, does that mean that you know everything?"

"Not exactly, but I know a lot more than most."

A few moments passed before curiosity got the better of the half gem. As they passed through another chamber filled with honeycombs, Steven started peppering Grom with questions and the mechanoid gave him an answer in calm, timely manner. Eventually, Steven ran low on questions and tossed out one that randomly popped up in his mind.

"What about the Gem War? Do you know anything about my mom?" Grom said nothing for a few moments and adopted a pensive look.

Finally, Grom answered. "I have no data on the subject" reported the mechanoid "Although I do know of a race of gemstones from Mr. Sanchez's universe who are very similar to your gems."

"Really?"

Grom nodded "Yes. They were called the Taydenites. They had a civil war of sorts that had lasted several millennia. Do you wish to learn more?"

Steven thought for a moment. This wasn't the information he was looking for but it did sound interesting. Before he could respond, Lion skidded to a halt. Grom came to a sudden halt as well. Steven and Connie shared a confused look but Lion bared his teeth, his fur raised a little and he let out a low, dangerous growl. Grom switched off his light.

"What is it?" whispered Connie.

"We have arrived," answered the mechanoid in a low voice. With Grom's light switched off, the rescue party continued onward but at a slower and softer pace. As they continued onward, Connie and Steven saw a flickering orange light at the end of the tunnel. When they reached the end, the two children gasped.

On the other end of the tunnel was a massive chamber. The chamber was similar to the one they passed earlier, but this one could easily fit that one and several others within it. The chamber had a high vaulted ceiling and the chamber itself ascended towards the surface with several terraces perfectly jutting out of the earth that were connected by a long, spiraling path leading up to the upper levels. Each terrace had other a number of other openings that lead elsewhere. All around them the walls were covered entirely of honeycombs. Up above, globs of a gold, waxy substance dangled low on thin but solid lines of wax, providing a pulsing orange light to the cavernous chamber. It looked like someone took a beehive and an ant colony, smashed them together and buried the results underground.

Ahead of the group were two car-sized walls of broken and old honeycombs that were neatly piled on top of each other. Steven spotted movement in the form of a long humanoid shadow moving around on the far wall of the cavern, followed by a cracking sound and moaning.

Connie asked Grom softly, "Are they here?"

The mechanoid's cybernetic eyes scanned around the cavern. He nodded. "Straight ahead. I detect that Mr. Sanchez, your principle and teacher are all there, however I also detect a Colvorian presence."

"Are they ok?"

Grom nodded "Yes. I detect slowed but steady heartbeats, which indicate that they are all contained within wax, except for one."

"Why are they in wax?" said Steven.

"To preserve them for later, either to eat or convert."

"Convert? That doesn't sound good."

"It's not."

The rescue party carefully left their spot. They hugged the shadows and quickly ducked behind one of the walls of discarded bits of honeycomb. Steven could hear a soft voice rising from the other side of the wall. The voice was female and was singing softly, almost lovingly.

" _-you give your soul so sweetly, tonight the light of love is in your eyes, but will you love me tomorrow…"_ Connie, Steven, Grom and Lion waited.

The soft voice continued to echo through the cavernous chamber, serenading the shadows and the hidden rescue party. There were some moaning sounds and an occasional yelp of pain and suddenly Steven realized that it was Rick making those sounds.

Steven turned to Grom and mouthed, " _What's the plan?_ " Grom silently shifted one of his arms into a sleek looking chain gun type weapon and gestured in the direction of the voice. The half gem felt his heart beating away like a jackhammer.

Steven summoned his shield and Connie found a sizable rock to use as a weapon. Grom gave them a nod, signaling that it was time. Steven took a deep breath and the three emerged from their hiding place, unleashing a battle cry…only to stop dead in their tracks at the odd sight in front of them.

Rick was there, lying down and moaning as a pair of miniature Colvorians were…giving him a back massage. Rick was on a makeshift massage table, moaning as a pair of miniature Colvorian drones rubbed and kneaded the elderly scientist's back. Scattered around them were several lavender colored candles.

Sitting beside the massage table in a stone chair was a Colvorian woman. The alien bee was vastly different from the monster that attacked them and the two little dog-sized creatures tending to Rick. The creature was dressed in futuristic black and silver attire with its hood up. Steven thought the woman looked more human, except for the sturdy golden chitinous hide and the black and yellow eyes. The Colvorian stared at them with surprise painted on her face.

The two little masseurs stopped and looked at the surprise guests. For a moment there was dead silence. Steven kept his shield handy and stayed close to Connie. Grom's weapon began to hum to life as the barrels started to spin, ready to unleash a bullet storm.

However, Rick looked up at them and belched "What uuup?"

"Rick?" said Connie, confused "What's going on here?"

"Nothin, just getting a free massage from these little guys." One of the little Colvorian's waved a pincered hand in greeting.

"We thought you were going to get eaten" admitted Steven.

"Oh yeah, they were going to eat me, but I managed to get a few words in and the Hive Queen decided to not encase me in wax" explained Rick, nonchalantly. He turned his head a little and nodded to the alien woman sitting in the chair "That's her, just in case if you're blind or something."

The woman smiled a little and bowed her head politely "Greetings human children. I am Queen Myra, it is a pleasure to meet you."

Steven lowered his shield a little and waved, flashing the alien monarch a friendly smile "Hello! I'm Steven!" he gestured to Connie "This is Connie" then to Grom "And that's Grom." G

rom roared in his deep, electronic voice "Die organic scum!" his chain gun was already spinning at full speed and was about to unleash hell. Instead of bullets, there was a series of rapid clicks. After a few seconds of rapid clicks, the gun shifted back into an arm and Grom announced calmly "Threat has been terminated." He turned, walked over to one of the honeycomb walls and lay down next to it. He closed his eyes and went silent.

Everyone stared at the unmoving mechanoid for a moment. "oookayyyy" said Connie, slowly.

Rick groaned and face-palmed "Dumbass. Great, now I got more work to do."

Myra let out an amused chuckle. "A little bit of trouble?" teased the Colvorian queen, gently.

Rick snorted "Just a bit of performance issues with my robot. But I usually don't have these kinds of problems."

"Oh really?" Rick was about to continue their line of conversation then he remembered that there were children present. Not wanting to get speared by Pearl or a broken jaw from Garnet, Rick changed the subject.

"Anyway, Myra needed some help and I offered my services to help fi*urp*x her ship."

"Her ship?" said Connie.

Rick nodded "Yeah, apparently Myra and her people were on their way to a rendezvous point to join up with the rest of her people but ended up here."

Connie raised an eyebrow "So, you're going to help her?"

Rick shrugged "Yeah, it'll only take a few hours." He lowered his voice a little, as if to tell a secret but was still loud enough for Myra and the other Colvorians to hear. "I-I-I don't have much choice. It's either fix her ride or have her tear out our stomachs and lay her eggs in our eye sockets".

Connie went green.

Myra punched Rick's arm playfully. "Stop frightening the poor girl" chided the queen, "I would never do such things. I would to you and the other adults of your race but never to children." Connie felt a little more comfortable but still felt her stomach grow unsettled.

Myra turned to Connie and Steven "Do not worry, I don't wish to harm you or the rest of your people. I simply wish to return to my people, they are waiting for me in the next star system."

Steven perked up a little bit and felt relief wash over him. Ever since they started this little mission, Steven had been feeling very uneasy and worried about fighting a strange, monstrous race of creatures but he was happy to see that they were friendly and merely needed some help.

"Don't worry, we can help and you'll be home in no time" assured Steven.

Myra smiled, relief visible on her face "Thank you, little one. Thank you!"

* * *

Back at Steven's house, the warp pad activated. A brief burst of light and the three Crystal Gems appeared. The three gems had to leave early that morning to handle a swarm of crab like corrupted gems that had suddenly appeared at the Sea Shrine. Rick and Steven were both fast asleep, so they figured they would be back before too long. Unfortunately, the three had underestimated the number of corrupted gems swarming the place and had come close to being overwhelmed a few times. But they managed to defeat most of them and escape.

When they returned to the house, Pearl was surprised to see that it was already night. It felt like only a few hours but being so deep under the sea, it was hard to tell how much time had passed.

Amethyst called out "Hey Steven! Come out here, I got a souvenir for you!"

Nothing. The house was dark and silent. Faint starlight and the distant glow of the rest of Beach City filtered in through the windows. A gentle breeze tumbled in from the sea, bringing a salt ocean scent into the vacant house.

Amethyst ventured into the dark and searched around for Steven. The purple gem stumbled over a mound of empty bottles and cans. Pearl scooped up one of the bottles that rolled over to her. She saw that it was one of the thousands of alcohol bottles that the belching old human leaves scattered through out the house. No matter how hard she tried to clean up and get rid of them, Pearl just couldn't be free of these things.

A moment later Amethyst returned and reported, "I can't find Steven. Rick's gone too."

"Where could they have gone?" Pearl wondered aloud, panic edging into her voice. Garnet noticed a piece of paper dangling from the side of the fridge. She plucked it free from the fridge and saw a brief message scribbled on it. " _Gone to school, Connie needs our help. Be back soon. – Steven."_

Garnet showed the note to Pearl and Amethyst. "What's a school?" asked the purple gem, after Pearl read it aloud.

"I believe it's a place where human children go to learn" answered Pearl "But why would Steven go there?"

"It says that Connie needs help, but with what?" queried Garnet. The three thought for a moment, trying to discern what the note meant when suddenly Garnet went rigid. Pearl and Amethyst looked to their leader, concerned.

"Garnet, what's wrong?" asked Pearl, fear creeping into her voice. Garnet's mouth slowly opened but no answer came. The larger gem's face slowly contorted in horror. "Oh no…no!" gasped Garnet. She dropped the note and quickly rushed out the front door. Pearl and Amethyst chased after her.

"Garnet!" cried Pearl, trying to catch up to her friend "What's wrong?"

"It's Steven!" responded Garnet urgently "He's in danger!"

* * *

Steven and Connie plopped down, panting and sweating. "I think we're done" said Connie, in between breaths. Steven nodded in agreement.

The two were sitting beneath an enormous, spherical spacecraft that was held aloft by large, sturdy metal legs that protruded from the bottom. Once Rick's massage was through and after he changed, Myra led them away from the main chamber of her temporary home and into a chamber six times the size of the main chamber, containing the ship in question. Rick said that it reminded him of the 'golf ball thing' in Epcot, but no one knew what he was talking about.

Once they were there, they started work right away. Well, Rick did all the hard work and the two children helped by handing him the occasional tool and standing in a corner, keeping their hands to themselves. They almost got kicked off the ship due to Connie accidentally bumping into a lever which jumpstarted the engines and almost launched the ship into orbit without the energy shields.

Fortunately, Rick switched it off in time before they were crushed against the ceiling at Mach four. After a brief and colorful chastising, Steven and Connie were temporarily sidelined. Grom eventually joined in the labor effort after he rebooted. Lion stuck around for a little bit but he sauntered off into the tunnels for a bit.

Time flew by and the ship was back up to spacefaring standards. Connie was staring up at the alien vessel, completely transfixed by it. The smooth, glossy hull was made of hexagonal pieces of honeycomb hull plates that looked like it had been glazed over with a translucent amber material. Although Connie knew the Crystal Gems were aliens, she was still trying to process the fact that the rest of the universe was populated by other sentient beings.

"Thirsty?" asked a voice.

Connie blinked and she saw Myra standing there with a tray, which carried a pair of mugs with various designs on them.

"Uhh…ye-yeah!" stuttered Connie "I'm parched"

"Me too" added Steven. The two accepted the mugs and drank the cool, refreshing water. As they drank, Connie watched as Myra snapped her fingers and a pair of Colvorian drones pulled up a chair for her to sit in. The two drained their mugs in silence. Connie couldn't help but occasionally glance at Myra. The Colvorian was probably the first alien she has ever met, beside the Crystal Gems. Her curious mind was filled with questions about Myra's people and the universe itself. She wanted to ask but was a little nervous about how she should go about it.

Connie also thought that the Colvorian looked rather familiar. Rick claimed that she looked a little like someone named D'Vorah, but Connie had no idea who that was. Just from watching the alien monarch give commands and walk around with the grace of a noblewoman, Connie was convinced that she was royalty. However, there was something in her face and the way she treated the drones with kindness, it just reminded her of someone else. It was really starting to bother Connie as to why she looked somewhat familiar. She looked at the alien queen again and suddenly it hit her like a speeding truck.

Myra looked like Mrs. Windsor.

Setting aside her half empty mug, Connie worked up enough courage to ask "W-why d-do you look like my teacher Mrs. Windsor?"

Myra answered coolly "That's because I am, or at least my host is."

Connie felt her heart stop. "I-I'm sorry but did you say host?"

"Yes, I did." Myra, noticing the looks on Steven and Connie's faces, continued "Normally, my species have no need to take on hosts except only in times of dire emergencies. Before we crashed here, my body was severely wounded by the commander of the armies that was invading my homeworld. I was forced to revert to my larval form to survive. I lived but I required a host in order to lead my people and Mrs. Windsor, well-"

"Your home was being invaded?" interrupted Steven, shocked.

Myra nodded grimly "Yes, we were. The enemy had caught us off guard when they betrayed the terms of our truce. My husband and children fought back valiantly but it was in vain. They ravaged our world until there was nothing left. My eldest daughter gave her life to ensure that our ships escaped orbit."

Myra fell silent. Her expression was blank but tears began to well up in her eyes. Connie and Steven didn't know what to say but Myra continued, her voice heavy with sadness "Unfortunately our ship was damaged in our retreat to hyperspace. We couldn't reach the meeting point with the rest of our people. We managed to lose our pursuers thanks to a long detour but we too were lost. The nearest habitable planet with any form of technology was this one. We made the jump and crashed several miles away from here. Your teacher, Mrs. Windsor, was driving by when our ship came down. She came to see what happened and she found us."

Myra smiled a little "She is a kind woman. She wanted to help and…she saved me." She sighed deeply "We scavenged around and most of the supplies we stole are from your school."

"But what about the people who went missing at school?" asked Connie.

Myra smiled a little "Sorry about that, but its in my instinct to try and rebuild the numbers I lost, either through conversion or feeding them to my young and such. However, I have had second thoughts of that. Maybe because of Mrs. Windsor and her kind heart, or maybe it was because of what happened to my people. Either way, I do not to wish to lower myself to the level of my enemies by doing as they did."

Connie felt sorry for Myra. Losing her home and family to an invading army, which was just unimaginable to her. Steven looked like he felt the same. Neither of them said anything for a moment, until Connie spoke up.

"So, what did you do to the missing people?" asked Connie.

Myra shrugged "Nothing. I merely wiped their minds and set them loose somewhere close to Empire City. Maybe near the town of White Sands. I may have wiped away a little too much. Hopefully the human authorities have picked them up already."

Myra reclined in her chair "Once the ship is repaired, I will return Mrs. Windsor's body to her and we shall depart this world and never return. You have my word of honor."

Connie felt a bit of relief. Maybe Mr. Sampson was right, maybe Connie didn't need to worry about anything. Myra and her people were friendly and were trying to survive. But Connie suddenly felt a little uneasy. Earlier, Rick had said that it took a combined army to stop the Colvorians and yet Myra and her people were on the run from an enemy that defeated them on their home planet. Connie shivered. Who was this enemy? Were they looking for the escaped monarch? Did they know about Earth? Connie got her answers but new questions only replaced the old ones, but she supposed they could wait until later.

* * *

Half an hour passed and Connie and Steven fell asleep, lying at the feet of Myra.

The Colvorian monarch had some of the drones bring some pillows and blankets for them. As they slept, Myra watched over them like a doting mother. The two sleeping children reminded her so much of her own children when they were very young. Those were happier times, long before they had to stay behind to fight a futile battle. Anger and sorrow filled her heart. Those traitorous monsters had caught the Hive while they celebrated the thousand years of peace they established long ago with them, the Coalition and various other nations.

The smell of burning plasma and the sounds of agonized screams filled her senses momentarily but Myra shoved them aside. The enemy may have won the battle, but the war was far from over, not while she lived.

Thanks to Mr. Sanchez, Myra now has an opportunity to avenge herself.

Steven. The boy was the key, she knew it the moment she saw that shield and smelled his flesh. She heard the rumors that took the galaxy by storm; an organic wielding a shield bearing a spiraled pink design, decorated with light pink rose thorns and a rose at its center. Days before the attack, Myra received word from the Coalition's Ministry of Justice that all Coalition systems and their allies to watch out for the vandals who tore up Kasak, the satellite city-state, and made off with some stolen goods. Reports mentioned the shield and it certainly caused a commotion within the intergalactic community. Everyone recognized it as the shield of a lost, and presumed dead, high commander of the enemy of the entire galaxy: the Gems.

No one knew what it meant when they heard that an organic wielded it, since all their weapons were keyed to Gem use only. The Council has certainly taken notice and would probably pay handsomely to get their hands on the owner of the shield, learn his secrets and gain new insight to slaughtering these bastards. On the other hand, Myra could just take them back to the Conclave of Hives and let her sisters do their own experiments.

Either way, the gods must be smiling down on Myra tonight.

Rick and Grom emerged from the Colvorian ship. "Well, all do*urp*ne" announced Rick, dusting his hands off.

"Truly?" asked Myra, rising to her feet.

Rick nodded "Yeah. Your-your guys did most of the legwork. It was just some of the internal systems that were on the fritz."

"We have repaired propulsion, navigation and weapons systems" added Grom "We have also repaired the hyper drive, for faster and more efficient use of energy."

"All in all, your good to go" finished Rick.

Myra threw her arms around Rick, crying "Oh thank you! Thank you!"

Rick remained still, looking very confused yet pleased with himself. Myra looked him in the eyes, "How can I ever repay you?"

A sly look appeared on the scientists face "Well, aside from the crystal you promised, there is one way you can." Myra looked at him for a few moments then she realized what he meant. "Oh, is that it?" chuckled Myra "Mr. Sanchez, is that how you speak to a queen?"

"Lady, I've spoken to kings, emperors, war lords, demigods and even the President of the fu*urrp*ing United States this way. I do whatever I want."

"My, such an impudent commoner" purred the monarch, pulling Rick closer "I may have to teach you a lesson in etiquette"

"Oh please, enlighten me." Their faces slowly became inches apart. Myra's warm breath filled Rick's nostrils and the scientist's head began to feel very murky. Suddenly her lips drifted down to his throat and she sank her sharp teeth into his jugular vein. Rick felt a sharp pinch on his neck and suddenly his blood ran warmer and his limbs grew numb.

The elderly man winched and smiled. "Whoa baby!" laughed Rick "You like it like that huh?"

Myra laughed and before he realized what was happening, Rick's eyes rolled back into his head and his body went limp. She gently lowered his unconscious body to the ground. Grom summoned a weapon and tried to attack but Myra simply swept him aside with one of the large stingers she had hidden beneath the folds of her robes.

The Colvorian queen felt guilty for leading him along with promises of Terigel crystals and little bonuses, but she had to get off this rock and fast. If there was one Gem, there's bound to be an infestation of them.

She left Rick and went for Steven. She scooped up the young boy in her arms. He was still soundly asleep. A drone rushed up to Myra. The insectoid man let out a short burst of snarls and chittering. Myra scowled then replied back with the same language. The drone nodded and skittered away. The Colvorian queen's worst fears have been realized. Gems, and they were getting close. It was time to leave.

She passed the still sleeping Steven to a passing drone, ordering him to hold onto the boy. She gave the evacuation order and everyone went to work. The drones went to work with destroying anything that the enemy could use against them, collapsing all the tunnels and exits around them, except two. Several of the drones loaded the ship with whatever larvae and eggs they did have into the ship.

Myra commanded several remaining drones to carry Connie, Rick, the mechanoid and the two education drones back to the surface and away from the launch site. Although she was betraying Rick and Steven's trust, Myra was still keeping her promise on not hurting anyone. Well, anyone who was not a Gem to be more precise.

The drones obeyed. They quickly and carefully evacuated the paralyzed scientist, sleeping girl, twitching mechanoid and still frozen adults from the docking area. Myra turned towards the only other entrance into the chamber. With her heightened senses, she could hear voices and footfalls.

They were much closer than she had anticipated. They somehow avoided all the dead ends and the collapsing tunnels. How could this be? Myra didn't care.

She had to leave now. However, her limbs didn't respond. The queen stood there, staring at the tunnel entrance, waiting for the interlopers to emerge. She wanted to leave and she had to, but her feelings prevented her. Hot boiling rage coursed through her body, causing her darkest and most primal instincts kicked in. Myra's fingers curled up into a fist and she closed her eyes. Images of the countless corpses lying strewn across Colvoria VI and the barren wasteland that she had once called home paraded by.

All around her went silent and all she could hear were the sounds of her hearts beating. Finally, after what seemed like forever, Myra's eyes snapped open and she saw the three interlopers barge into the hanger, weapons drawn. A savage smile appeared on her face.

The queen snarled and the drone holding Steven quickly backed away, knowing that he did not want to get in between a bloodthirsty queen and her prey.

* * *

Connie's eyes slowly opened. As they opened, she heard quite a commotion going on.

"Huh, it's already three o'clock" mused Rick's voice "You know what that means?"

"What?" asked another familiar voice, Grom.

"Taco Shack's breakfast menu should be available now. We can get a two-for-one deal if we get some waffle tacos."

"Sounds economic."

"Uh excuse me," said a nervous voice that sounded like Mr. Sampson. "What-what the hell just happened to us?"

Rick snorted, "Nothing. It-it-it was just a dream. Just relax." He grunted, but in a softer tone, "Grom, the forget-me-stick protocol!" There was some movement, some footfalls and rustling, followed by a loud and sudden clunk. There was a thud, a terrified shriek sounded and was soon followed by another clunk and thud.

Silence filled the void for a few seconds, until Grom spoke. "What shall we do with them?" asked the mechanoid

"I don't know, drop 'em off at a cornfield or something," mumbled Rick.

Connie's eyes fluttered open and she found herself looking up at a vast ocean of stars. She sat up and saw that she, Grom, Rick and Lion were in the middle of an empty field. Lying at their feet were Mr. Sampson and Mrs. Summers, out cold and carrying a large, fresh bruise on their foreheads. It was to dark to see but judging from what little light that came from the stars and the dim glow of man made light in the far distance, Connie estimated that they were quite a ways from Beach City.

She got up, stretching her tired limbs. "What are we doing here?" yawned Connie "Where's the cave and Myra?"

"Judging from the hickey I got and the fact that we're in the middle of bum-fu*urp*-nowhere, Myra was-was just using us to fix her ship and get to Steven" answered Rick, sounding bitter and a little disappointed.

"What?" exclaimed Connie, outraged "Why would she do that?"

"Shit if I know. But if I were a betting man, I'd guess that it has something to do with his biological mother, or the three stooges he calls his guardians. Either way, Myra has snatched Steven for some reason or other and it can't be good."

"We got to get back there! We have to save him!"

"Rela*urp*x kid, we're on it" assured Rick "I'm used to being screwed over by hot ladies. Which is why I came up with a contingency plan for such an occasion." He rolled up his sleeve, revealing a high tech watch. He pressed a button. Silence responded. The aged scientist whipped out his flask and sat down on the ground.

Grom and Lion did like wise. Connie stared at the elderly man in disbelief but the way he just sat there and looked calmly towards a peculiar gathering of bushes and rocks several hundred yards away made Connie sit down. She followed Rick's lead and focused on the distant clump of rocks and plants. When she sat down, there was a soft rumbling. It sounded like waves crashing against the shore; only it only continued and grew closer and closer.

Suddenly, the ground trembled and the little gathering of rocks and plants exploded, throwing up a massive cloud of dust and chunks of earth. A deafening rumble of engines and blinding light of thrusters filled the night. Connie shielded her eyes while Rick and Grom sat stock still, watching as the Colvorian transport rise from the earth like a whale breaching the surface of the ocean.

* * *

While Rick and company sat at the minimum safe distance from the launch site, Pearl, Garnet and Amethyst were fighting for their lives. They emerged from the maze of collapsing tunnels, guided by Garnet's Future Sight, and found the source of the troubling visions that Garnet was having, standing at the bottom of a ramp that led into an enormous, orb shaped spacecraft.

The creature resembled a human female, except she looked more like an insect, complete with a black and yellow chitinous hide and matching eyes. Standing behind the woman was a honey bee-human hybrid, holding onto an unconscious Steven.

Garnet demanded Steven's return. The woman merely grinned like a bloodthirsty maniac and extended her arms, as if to invite them to embrace her, saying "If you want him, come and claim him."

All three attacked at once but soon realized that their opponent was more than she seemed. A large stinger emerged from the folds of her cloak, brushed off Garnet's powerful punches and sent her flying into a nearby wall. Amethyst tried to use her flail but they merely glanced off of their opponents hide.

The woman let out a low guttural growl and launched herself at the purple gem, who was waiting to unleash a wave of purple energy from her weapon. However, Amethyst quickly ducked aside when several more stingers popped out of the woman's robes and lunged at her before she reached the gem.

The woman landed with a powerful crash, leaving a large impact crater. Amethyst turned and saw, to her horror, the woman still grinning and was salivating like a starving animal. She bared her razor sharp teeth at the gem and let out a high, alien scream that seemed to say, "Come at me! Fight me!"

Pearl obliged by attempting to flank her. Before she could reach her target, Pearl was impaled on one of the stingers that moved to intercept her. The stinger swung her around like a rag doll then roughly threw her aside. Garnet and Amethyst retaliated with a spin dash and rocket gauntlets. The woman gracefully dodged Amethyst's attack but caught a rocket gauntlet to the jaw.

The woman was sent staggering back few steps but only just. She moved her jaw, causing it to pop loudly, and she spat out a glob of spit and blood. This time, the woman stopped grinning. She looked angry.

A few minutes passed and neither side seemed to be making any progress. Ducking behind a massive boulder, hiding from a barrage of stones being hurled at them, the Crystal Gems tried to formulate a strategy. "What can we do?" complained Amethyst "We can't seem to scratch that thing!"

"I know but we have to keep trying" said Pearl, firmly "We have to get Steven away from that creature"

"Yeah but how, that thing's stingers are impossible to get around!"

"I'll think of something!"

"Think faster!"

Pearl gritted her teeth and wanted to snap at her but suddenly there was a loud mechanical humming. The barrage of rocks abruptly stopped and suddenly the entire cavern shook. The three Gems peaked out from behind their hiding place and saw that the enormous spacecraft was shuddering to life. The insectoid woman noticed this and shrieked angrily. The opened ramp folded back into the ship and the legs that held it up retracted back to their proper place. The enormous orb hovered for a few moments then a thin layer of blue-white energy shimmered across the surface of the ship, covering it in a force field. Rising from the ground, the ship's thrusters emerged and started to roar.

Acting quickly, Amethyst turned her flail into a whip and used it to snatch Steven from the hands of the alien that held him. The alien moved to retrieve him but the female screamed at him in an unknown language and the two quickly started scrambling up the walls in order to catch up with the departing spacecraft.

Garnet grabbed Amethyst, Steven and Pearl and used her own body to shield them. As if unconsciously sensing the danger, Steven's gem glowed and the four were enveloped in a protective bubble, just as the thrusters of the alien ship burst, propelling it skyward and crashing through the layer of earth that covered the launch camber. The force of the thrusters firing, bounced the bubble off the earthen floor, sending it rocketing upward and into night sky.

The bubble arced and remained in the sky for a few moments, then plummeted back to earth. Garnet held on to Steven and the other Gems as the bubble crashed back to earth. The bubble burst on impact and, fortunately, the four were unharmed.

Amethyst and Pearl picked themselves up off the ground, feeling woozy and a little discombobulated. Garnet got to her feet, cradling a still sleeping Steven in her arms.

Amethyst looked at Steven in astonishment "He's still asleep?" said the purple gem, amazed.

"He's kind of a heavy sleeper from what I've seen," said Pearl.

Garnet nodded in agreement. None of them said anything for a long moment as they were trying to process what had just happened, when suddenly the girl named Connie came rushing to their side crying "Steven! Steven!"

Accompanying her were Steven's pet Lion, Grom the machine man and two frightened looking humans and Rick Sanchez. Pearl scowled and started winding up for ripping the vulgar human a new one, but a sudden flash of green light interrupted her. Everyone looked up and saw where the burst of light came from and realized that it was where the alien craft position in the sky.

Everyone looked up in awe as the blazing remains of the spacecraft faintly light up the night sky like a miniature new sun. "Wha-what the hell was that?" sputtered one of the two humans Pearl didn't recognize.

"None of your business" grunted Rick as he continued to stare at the blazing light. Connie looked at the scientist with awe and fear "Did-did you do that?"

Rick nodded "Yep." He turned to the others and said calmly and ominously "And that, ladies and gents, is Rick Sanchez saving your lives again. You're welcome. Please hold your applause and just quietly bask in the light of your glorious golden god."

An eerie silence befell the odd collection of sentient beings. The Gems and Connie stared at Rick with a mixture of shock and amazement, while the two shivering faculty members were confused and traumatized by the whole experience.

After several long moments of awkward silence, Grom asked aloud "Who want's waffle tacos? My treat!" he held up a wallet that he had found a few moments ago, lying around in Mr. Sampson's pocket.

Nobody said anything for a few moments, then Connie raised a hand, as did Amethyst. Eventually, everyone started to act normally. Pearl started her long winded tirade against Rick. Steven awoke and joined in on wanting waffle tacos. The two strange humans looked incredibly confused and lost. As the group started looking for the road that led to Beach City, Garnet remained stock still in that empty field.

The tall gem looked up at the blazing green light and sighed deeply. The creature was gone and Steven was safe, just as her vision foretold. But why did she feel uneasy. She felt as if there was still a terrible danger out there and it felt even worse than that insect woman.

* * *

Miles away, a black Sedan raced through the vast empty darkness, following the map provided in their mission packet and the highway signs beside the road.

Seated in the drivers and passengers seat were two men named Agent Finch and Agent Winters. Hours ago, the two agents were mopping up a little incident in a small town a couple of states over when the call came in. Apparently the reclusive little desk jockey that the powers that be, and pretty much everyone else, nicknamed "Oracle" had picked up some suspicious activity around Beach City, a boring little town by the sea.

Seeing as they were the closest and only available agents in the area, the higher ups handed down this assignment.

Being the loyal company men that they were, they did as they were told. As they raced across the long and endless night, a sudden flare of emerald light suddenly caught their attention.

Agent Winters, sitting in the passenger seat, whistled and took a snapshot of it on his phone.

"Looks like HQ was right, there's certainly something going around here" said Winters, sounding a little excited.

Agent Finch nodded "Yeah." He noticed that the blazing object was starting to plummet back to earth, casting off little burning fragments as it fell.

The elder agent smirked and asked his partner "So what do you think it is this time? Vuldorians?"

"I don't know, but five bucks says that its organic, maybe a bug like in Manitoba" replied his friend with a knowing smile.

Finch snorted "Please! I say that's a machine or AI like Montana"

"Your on!" A few moments passed and they managed to turn off the highway and drive through several miles of empty fields and a bumpy dirt path.

At the end of the path was their prize. Half buried in the earth, blazing like an emerald fireball from Hell, was an organic looking spaceship that was rather reminiscent of a golf ball.

Thick black smoke billowed forth into the night sky. Strewn about the wreckage were charred corpses and shards of hexagonal hull plates. The two agents got out of their car and approached the crash sight carefully. One of the agents slipped on a special pair of goggles that allowed him to see through the dark and pick up any traces of heat signatures, heartbeats and other signs of life.

Agent Finch drew a futuristic looking pistol and kept it ready for any sudden attacks. The two men stopped when they saw a tall, slender figure stumble forth from the emerald flames and chocking black smoke.

As it approached, the two men saw that it was a female. Dressed in charred black robes, the woman was covered in soot and cuts. An impact like that would've killed most but luckily she had her tough shell that took the brunt of it.

Her black and golden eyes swiveled about madly, as if she were searching for something. Or someone. The woman started growling and yelling in an unknown language. She came to staggering halt when she saw the two human men in suits and the mess of bodies and ship fragments around them.

The alien woman stared at the two for a few long moments then let out an unearthly shriek that would freeze the blood of even the bravest of warriors. She rushed them, large stingers thrashing about madly and screaming angrily.

Agent Finch calmly raised his weapon and fired off two shots. The two shots struck the alien in the throat and mouth. The compressed rounds exploded, unleashing bursts of soft blue smoke, covering the creature's face and was quickly inhaled. Within seconds, the alien woman stumbled and fell to the ground a few feet away from Agent Finch.

Neither of the two men said anything for a while. They simply looked down at the now unconscious, injured alien woman.

The two did a quick preliminary search for survivors. Satisfied that there were none, Agent Winters decided that it was time to call it in.

Before he did, Agent Finch simply handed his partner five dollars. "Lucky guess" said Finch, feeling disappointed that he lost the bet.

End of Chapter

* * *

 **(a/n: So, what do you think? Honestly, this was one of the longest chapters i have done so far. It's kind of repetitive but i hope it didn't ruin anything. Anyway, the song lyrics were from the song "Will you still love me tomorrow?" by various artists (i can't remember who). Anyway, Please review and tell me what you think! Next chapter will include some interesting stuff. Until next time, Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!)**


	5. Pt 5: Guess Who

**(a/n: Sorry for the long wait. This chapter is based off the SU episode "Fusion Cuisine". Enjoy!)**

* * *

Part 5: Guess Who's Coming to Dinner?

Garnet was nervous.

She was currently sitting in the living room, listening to Connie and Steven watch a medical television show above her. She did this while she kept a vigilant watch of Rick Sanchez, who was currently operating on his mechanical friend. The fusion's eyes narrowed from behind her glasses. The elderly man was a strange human.

Reflecting on the adventure with the strange starship a week ago, Garnet still harbored some suspicions about Rick. After the starship blowing up, Rick behaved normally, though he disappeared a few times and didn't return until days later in the predawn hours. Rick treated Pearl, Garnet and Amethyst the same whenever he could and occasionally hung out with Greg when he came around.

As the days went on, the scientist started spending more of his time out of the house with Grom. Where they went, Garnet and Pearl could only guess.

Feeling curious and a little concerned, Garnet tried to use her future sight to see what Rick was doing. Strangely enough, all she saw were blurred images that made no sense. Everything was out of focus, moving randomly and rapidly. She tried again, focusing as hard as she could to make the images come into focus but failed, it merely created more questions.

Pearl instantly wanted to ask him directly about his strange activities but Garnet advised against it. On the one hand, Rick did protect Steven from danger, which meant that Rick should at least have the benefit of a doubt. However, according to Steven and Connie, the wild haired old man was also the one who led them into danger in the first place. Not really sure of what to do, Garnet and Pearl decided to wait and see what happens.

As the days passed, everything seemed to go back to normal. Steven and Connie played together and hung out around the house, seemingly have recovered from their experience in the underground. Greg and Amethyst went on with their usual business, but Pearl and Garnet kept an eye out for anything suspicious. So far, other than Rick and Grom's frequent departures in the previous weeks, everything was normal…until that phone call.

Garnet was pulled out of her reverie when Steven waved a cellphone in her face. "Garnet!" said Steven "you have to pretend to be my mom to Connie's mom!" Garnet accepted the phone. She didn't know how to act like a human mother, considering that Gems don't have mothers, but this seemed important.

"Hello, this is…mum Universe," said Garnet, awkwardly. Before the person on the other line could speak, the fusion gem continued, "Yes, the children are playing swords."

" _What?"_ exclaimed Connie's mother, horrified

"Sorry playing with swords," Garnet corrected herself. Right before Connie's mother could respond, and feeling uncomfortable with how the conversation was going, Garnet wrapped up the phone call. "Oh no, they're bleeding. Now they're dead. Don't call again". She snapped the phone shut, ending it. She looked at Steven and handed him the cellphone "Sorry. I panicked."

Steven and Connie looked horrified.

"Jeez, you-you could've at least told the poor woman our ransom demands before telling her that her daughter was dead" Rick commented from in the kitchen. Steven, Garnet and Connie looked at the scientist. The scientist was currently rooting around inside Grom's head, literally.

The mechanoid sat on a stool, shoulders slumped and eyes glazed over. A portion of his skull was hanging open, exposing a lump of metal, crystal and wires. Rick took a pull from his flask and went back to fiddling with the wires that were dangling out of the mechanical man's skull. After some fiddling around, Rick stuffed the wires back into Grom's skull and resealed it.

"That should do for now" Rick said, satisfied.

"What were you doing with Grom?" asked Steven.

"Trying to make him more competent. A normal Grom unit is efficient and handy, this one was damaged long ago and is a total reta-" he stopped himself suddenly then corrected "a total idiot." He wiped the thick coat of grease off his hands with a rag and instructed Steven, Connie and Garnet to leave Grom so that he can reboot.

Rick made his way to the door saying, "I gotta go, I got things to do."

"Where are you going?" asked Steven

"Nunya"

"Nunya what?"

"Nunya damn business." Rick left.

Steven looked confused for a moment then he realized what Rick meant. He chuckled a little and turned back to Connie, assuring her that everything was going to be fine with her mother.

Meanwhile, Garnet's eyes were still on the door. She considered following him but she decided to wait and watch. But then again, Rick's actions were cause for concern. Inhaling deeply, Garnet decided to try one more time to use her future vision to maybe glean some information on Rick's secretive business and, hopefully, ease her worried mind.

Closing her eyes, Garnet focused and instantly blurred, swirling images rushed past her sight. Nothing discernible, just a rapid stream of fuzzy blobs and blots. The fusion gem pressed harder, trying to force the images to stay still and focus but they all slipped from her grip and faded away… all but two. The two came and went quickly like a flash but were burned into Garnet's memory.

The first was a pair of eyes. The two eyes, two blood red orbs, bore into Garnet's own eyes like drills, bearing a cold venomous anger that the fusion gem has never before seen. The second was of a human silhouette with shiny, silver sunglasses. The human's face was still blurred but the most distinct feature was shiny sunglasses and an eerie, sadistic smile.

Garnet's eyes snapped open. She finally got the visions to be a little clearer, but only got more questions. What in the world was going on?

* * *

Rick landed his car in some bushes and continued onward on foot. He didn't need to fly over or use the map because he'd been here a dozen times before and this would be his last time. After the Colvorian affair, Rick had secretly snuck off with Grom to search the wrecked starship and scavenge for technology.

During the search, the old scientist had found a few items of note that could help Grom in terms of defensive capabilities and the latest in galactic news but nothing that he really needed or wanted…until the last trip. While combing over the wreckage the last time, he did find a few small shards of Whitepoint crystals that could be used for a dozen things, including generating portals.

Unfortunately, he didn't have time to grab them, due to the fact that he and Grom weren't the only ones who were combing over the crash site.

Judging from the tire tracks, distinct lack of charred Colvorian bodies and huge amounts of missing tech, Rick immediately had an idea of who was the other interested party: the government, or at least a secret group with some serious backing. It would appear that Steven's world wasn't this bright and shiny perfect hippy utopia after all.

Rick ducked down low and carefully approached the crash site. Ducking behind a huge mound of earth that had been thrown up by the impact of the fallen ship,

Rick waited for a moment and listened.

Nothing but the wind reached his ears. The scientist carefully climbed up to the top of the huge mound and looked out towards the destroyed ship. The scorched and blasted field remained generally the same. Huge piles of dirt were scattered about, burnt areas pocked the greenery and a huge crater sat squat in the center of the field…but no ship.

Right where the charred, twisted remains of the large starship, was a big empty crater. Nothing remained of the fallen spacecraft, not a single scrap of metal or plating.

The elderly scientist whipped out a scanner and did a quick scan of the crater. There were some traces of exotic radiation and minuscule alien elements, but the crater and the surrounding area were scrubbed clean of everything.

Rick swore under his breath. The other interested party must've taken what was left back to wherever they were operating out of.

It wasn't a total loss. Rick had scavenged enough components from the wreckage and could probably get the device working by tonight, but it would've definitely eased his mind if he had gotten that last little bit of Whitepoint crystal.

Oh well. He just had to make do with what he had.

The elderly scientist carefully left the crash site, doing his best to avoid being seen by possible observers.

Unfortunately, a single observer, who had noticed his arrival from the start, had spotted him and watched as the scientist fly away from the crater and towards Beach City.

* * *

Back at Rick's secret garage lab, the scientist slapped together the last few little bits of metal, plastic and circuits together, forming a familiar device: his trademark portal gun. Rick held up the finished result, inspecting it with a sharp, critical eye.

The gun was slightly smaller than his old one and looked a little crude. Composed of recycled plastic and metal, it gave off a dull sheen. A tiny screen was imbedded into the back of the gun and a few buttons and switches adorned the sides.

After a brief and through visual examination, Rick switched it on and he felt the little gun hum to life in his hands. The tiny screen blinked on and cycled through a bunch of random text and numbers until it read blankly " _Earth V-6361."_

Rick smiled a little bit, satisfied to see his device working. So this was this universe's designation. It's a little out of the way, even for universe jumpers but with a few quick jumps, Rick could be home in a matter of days.

Sitting between Steven's universe and Rick's home were a myriad of unknown little universes, most of which were occupied by the Galactic Federation and other inter-dimensional law enforcement agencies that probably have a bounty on his head and other barriers.

It didn't look good but Rick didn't care, he had a way home. Hell, he now had the power to go anywhere and do just about anything.

Before he could really get to celebrate his accomplishment, Rick noticed a small bulb flashing on the side of the portal gun. The scientist frowned and pressed a button and saw a small text scroll across the screen. He groaned and switched off the portal gun. The gun itself was functional, but only had enough power to last a few hours, which equated to a single jump at minimum, maybe two at the most. Rick rubbed his tired eyes. Days of scavenging and rooting around for parts and keeping this secret from his hosts have turned up a lousy single jump that may or may not even work.

This day was getting better and better.

Despite these set backs, Rick was not deterred. With a bit of effort he may be able to whip up a battery or come up with a viable power source that could get him to a better dimension or something. Either way, the elderly dimensional traveler had all the time in the world. Rick, tired and not really thinking, stashed his portal gun in his blaster's holster and decided to take well deserved nap. He packed up his tools and locked up his lab.

Rick made sure that his new portal gun was safe in its resting place in his pocket.

The scientist departed the storage locker complex.

A pair of avaricious eyes watched the human scientist depart from the collection of storage lockers, completely oblivious of the fact that he was being watched. One of the observers was keen on making his move but his friend stopped him before he exposed himself in broad daylight. The two shared a look and quickly left the scene to plan and prepare for their hunt.

* * *

The next day, Rick was fighting the urge to use the portal gun to teleport himself into orbit and end it all. The exhausted and partially hungover scientist was lying on the couch, trying to get some shut eye when he was awoken by Steven who was calling a meeting together with the Crystal Gems, his father and Rick.

At first Rick almost thought that it was something serious, but then he learned that it was all about some stupid dinner date with Connie and her parents. It didn't seem like a big deal to Rick but Steven explained that Connie told her family that he had a nuclear family.

Rick sighed deeply, his portal gun option looking more and more desirable.

The scientist didn't care about this pointless bit of drama and had a whole list of better things to do, and yet he was still sitting there and listening to Steven jabber on about how difficult it was to choose whom to take. Why was he still here?

Greg stood there, wearing a green sweater. The Crystal Gems sat on barstools in the kitchen while watching Steven pacing nervously.

"Why did it have to be dinner?" Pearl complained, "We get our energy from our gems and while our constructs are able to eat, it is very uncomfortable." She shivered a little.

Rick smirked a little and made a note of using food against Pearl the next time she tries jumping down his throat, somehow.

"Okay, okay. Now which of you would make the most nuclear mom?" Steven said, taking stock of his options.

"None of them. They're about as nuclear as a loaf of bread," Rick snorted. He leaned back into the couch and kicked his feet up on the coffee table. "Look, take my advice: go down to the red light district and pay a hooker to be your mom for a few hours."

"Rick!" Pearl exclaimed, outraged

"Wha-what? That's what I did in high school. It worked at PTA meetings. It worked much better for an old lab partner of mine, tho-though he was using her to temporarily replace his sister after he accidentally spliced her genes with a gorilla and created a mutant freak."

Pearl scowled at him "That won't work. For starters, Beach City doesn't have this 'red light district' as you call it."

"Oh yeah" Rick muttered, remembering that little fact.

"Secondly, she wouldn't look a thing like Steven."

Rick rolled his eyes "Oh please, I-I-I'm sure we could find someone. Also, since when did you become an expert on human biology? Considering that you thought the movie _Cannibal Warz_ was a true story about the British Royal Navy fighting an empire of flesh eating humans in the eighteen hundreds."

Pearl blushed and the two were ready to argue but Rick noticed that Greg was standing there with a small, almost amused smile on his face.

"Wha-what's so fu*urp*nny?" Rick asked.

"Nothing" Greg said innocently, "It's just you two are bickering like a married couple that I once knew. Its kinda cute."

Pearl looked offended at the comment and scrambled to defend her honor while Rick grunted and muttered something under his breath.

The two dropped the argument.

Greg and Steven sat down on the couch by Rick. Steven rested his chin in his hands and sighed.

"Why did say that I have one mother instead of zero…or three?" Steven wondered aloud.

"Probably because her family is more old fashioned" Rick said, pulling out his flask "It would've made sense if she said that your dad was single, that would raise little to no questions. Bu*urp*t if-if she said you had three mothers things would get very awkward very fast."

"So what do I do?"

Rick shrugged. Greg placed an arm around his sons shoulders "Don't worry, we'll figure this out. We just gotta put our heads together."

A few seconds passed when, suddenly, Steven's eyes widened in realization.

"That's it!" Steven exclaimed, "That's how all three of the gems can go. They can go if they're fused into one!"

Rick brow rose "Fuse?"

"Yeah, fusion" Greg confirmed. He quickly explained what fusion was, a way for the gems to combine into one being to be bigger and stronger in battle and becoming an entirely different person. Rick thought that was interesting, though from the description of the fusion process and the outcome, it sounded like an even worse option than taking one of the three gems to dinner. Pearl and Amethyst expressed their surprise and reluctance.

"You know its serious magic. Its not a trick for some dinner party" Garnet said, firmly.

"I have to agree" Rick said, folding his arms "Not-not the magic thing, but this fusion thing sounds like an even worse idea than mine. Hell, you're probably better off taking either Pearl or Garnet or, even better, just go with just your dad and-and explain your family situation like a normal person and that your mom passed away or something."

Steven stared at Rick for a moment and considered his words. Finally, after a few moments of silent contemplation, Steven sighed. "I know, but…but I thought that it would be great if I could have my entire family there and have Connie's parents see how cool you guys are. But now…now I guess its goodbye Connie." The half gem's eyes watered a little and he sniffed "Oh Connie! I'll never know another star that shines as brightly as you!" he began to shed a few tears and he sank to his knees.

The three gems watched the emotional display with shock and their firm expressions softened.

After about half a minute, Garnet sighed then surrendered. Rick had to admit; the kid was a good little actor, maybe a little over dramatic.

"Oh he's good," the scientist murmured.

* * *

Dusk rolled around and Rick found himself standing in line at a tiny gas station's convenience store, waiting to buy a bottle of orange juice to wash the foul taste out of his mouth.

Steven and Greg had already left for the restaurant with Steven's fake mother, the fusion gem Alexandrite. Rick was rather impressed at the size and form of the creature but immediately saw that this idea wasn't going to end well. A Godzilla-sized, purple and green woman was certainly going to make a hell of an impression and maybe generate some panic.

After settling on where the dinner was going to happen, Rick wished them luck and was ready to spend a rather peaceful night at the house with a bottle of whisky, a bucket of hot wings and a monster movie marathon but Steven somehow coerced him into coming along and pretend to be a distant uncle.

The two parties agreed to meet up at the restaurant. Rick decided to take his time getting there to avoid awkwardness and hopefully miss the dinner. He was going to bring Grom but had decided against it, considering all the worst possible scenarios that could happen at dinner. The mechanoid was left at the house on standby mode in order for some of his systems to configure.

A soft chime pulled Rick out of his thoughts. His eyes followed the lady at the front of the line leave the store, carefully carrying a twelve pack. As she crossed the threshold of the store's entrance, the scientist noticed a brief shimmer in the air. It was almost unnoticeable, but thanks to his years of experience, he caught it before it vanished. Rick's eyes narrowed, his hand slid down close to where his holster was, underneath his lab coat.

The scientist returned his gaze to the front of him in an attempt to act natural and not alert the unseen newcomers.

Rick reached the counter. He placed his bottle of orange juice on the counter and as the cashier scanned his item, the elderly scientist suddenly caught whiff of an oppressive rotten, meaty smell. The cashier turned to Rick but suddenly froze, slowly turning pale and looking horrified.

Rick sighed and he glanced to his left and right. Flanking him were two large, beefy creatures who looked like a cross between ogres and gorillas. Both were wearing matching black and red jumpsuits, combat boots, bandoliers and a high-tech helmet with a clear visor.

Rick eyed the large plasma pistols aimed at his head and sighed deeply. He really wasn't in the mood for any of this shit.

"W-what can I do you for guys?" Rick asked, coolly.

One of the ogre-gorillas tapped the side of its visor-helmet combo then spoke in a deep, rumbling voice. "You are the one known as Rick Sanchez?"

"Yeah and what of it?"

"A warrant has been issued for your arrest," the other alien answered, gruffly "You will be coming with us. Do not attempt to resist." Rick internally groaned.

Bounty hunters, just what he needed. The elderly scientist should be used to this sort of thing by now, but no matter how many warrants he dodged, there will always be another warrant with another swarm of bounty hunters and vigilantes looking to make a quick buck. One of the bounty hunters jabbed Rick's arm with his pistol and grunted an order to move, but the scientist remained where he stood.

With his hand remaining close to his hidden holster, Rick was ready to give them his reply when suddenly the loud hum of an energy weapon powering up interrupted him. The bounty hunters and the human scientist turned and saw a tall slender alien with multiple arms standing amidst one of the aisles aiming a gun at each of them.

One of the bounty hunters turned his gun on the newcomer, only to come face to face with a newer adversary, a large cockroach like alien wielding a pair of sickles. Rick's brow rose in surprise as a squad of blue skinned dwarves emerge from the refrigerated section, a gelatinous blob creature dropping down from an air vent, a thin humanoid fish in a tux popped up from behind a magazine stand and a confused looking purple man in a plaid suit with two heads emerged from the bathroom, wielding a dirty plunger.

The cashier panicked and ducked for cover behind the counter.

Rick stood there, looking fairly surprised and impressed. Normally he's good at catching on to how many people were going to try and ambush him, but these guys were either top notch hunters or Rick was getting rusty. Each of the bounty hunters all glared at each other and had their weapons trained on Rick and one another. The air grew still and silent, each of the hunters waiting for someone to make their move.

A soft jingle interrupted them. Everyone looked and saw a beautiful raven-haired human woman enter the convenience store. Her eyes were glued to her smart phone as she typed away a message at a rapid speed. She ducked past one of the ogre gorilla aliens and stepped over the squad of blue dwarves and retrieved a Cookie Cat ice cream sandwich from the freezer. The woman approached the counter and she stood behind Rick, possibly assuming that he was still in the middle of his transaction.

She tapped the touch screen of her phone and tucked it away in her coat pocket.

The woman looked up. For a moment she did nothing. She looked around at the almost crowded convenience store filled with heavily armed alien bounty hunters then she looked to Rick. Then she went pale.

All the aliens turned their weapons onto her.

"Oh dear…" the woman muttered, with wide eyes, "This doesn't look good."

"Yeah, you kinda stepped right into this one" Rick said, bluntly.

The woman swallowed hard then asked, "Should I scream for help?"

"What-what-what good would that do? Besides, it'll only piss off the fish man over there."

"Enough talk!" one of the ogre aliens growled, "You're coming with us!"

"He's coming with me!" the fish man hissed.

"Piss off, I was here first!" said the multi-arm alien. The squad of dwarves, the two headed man and the blob alien voiced their anger while the cockroach man chittered away excitedly, but nobody understood what he was saying. Soon the entire store devolved into a shouting match over who gets Rick.

The woman watched the spectacle with a mix of fear and fascination. Rick was looking for the exit. He tried inching his way to the door, the woman tried to follow his lead, but the cockroach man and one of the ogre aliens cut them off. The scientist sighed in frustration and the woman looked like she was on the verge of panicking. He was stuck in a convenience store with the biggest pack of idiots in the galaxy and a woman who was likely going to die.

Rick could draw his gun and take a few guys down before they could use their weapons but if he were to make a move, there was a good chance that he or the lady were going to get hit. "Could this evening get any better?" Rick murmured, annoyed.

In response to his unintended challenge, the universe replied with a chorus of police sirens.

Rick rubbed his temples then screamed "I was being fu*urp*king rhetorical!" A short amount of time later, the police besieged the gas station.

* * *

Meanwhile a line was starting to form a short distance down the road. A police officer and his partner had set up a line of tape and were diverting cars down an alternative route that would divert them away from the trouble. The car at the head of the line paused and the passenger side rolled down its window, revealing a middle aged Indian woman.

"What seems to be the problem officer?" Priyanka Maheswaran asked, "Has there been an accident?"

"No ma'am," the officer replied, grimly "There seems to be a hostage situation at the gas station just up the road."

"Oh my!" exclaimed Priyanka's husband from the driver's side. "Has anyone been hurt?" Dr. Maheswaran asked, concerned.

The officer shook his head "None so far, thank goodness. Right now they're trying to talk the maniac down." "Is there anything I can do to help? I am a doctor."

"Thank you ma'am but no, so far we have everything under control."

* * *

"Get back before I blow her damn brains out!" Rick screamed as he jabbed his gun at Tessa's head. The raven-haired woman started sobbing.

"Now calm down Mr. Sanchez" Xaz the fish man soothed, "Put the gun down and let us talk about this like civilized people." He tried to step towards Rick but the scientist drew Tessa closer to himself and shot him a cold look that could kill. Xaz held up his hands and backed away carefully.

Rick looked around to the other hunters. Some were following Xaz's cue but the rest, the multi-armed creature and the two ogre gorillas, were still keeping their weapons trained on the human scientist.

In his experience, a number of intergalactic bounty hunters had some code of honor about civilians, but most tend to be bloodthirsty psychopaths who rarely give a shit. Normally he could shoot his way out. Unfortunately Rick, in a rather rare instance of un-Rick-like behavior, forgot that he still had his portal gun and hadn't switch it out for his blaster. Possibly due to the recent dinner drama. The scientist would kick himself about it but there wasn't time for that.

Several hastily made plans formed in his mind but each one only increased his chances of getting shot or worse. There was also the chance that his portal gun might burn out on the one portal, which made him even more reluctant to use it. Rick decided to go with the least deadly of his plans.

As the bounty hunters were locked in the middle of their dick-measuring contest, which consisted of shouting their names and their "great deeds" in an effort to be the one to get the bounty, Rick introduced himself to Tessa, the woman who blundered into this whole thing, and then told her that he had an idea. She introduced herself as well and said how eager she was to hear it, until he took her hostage. It paid off…sort of.

Some of the bounty hunters holstered their weapons and were trying to figure out a way to disarm Rick, but from the looks of the big ogre guys and the multi armed creature, they looked ready vaporize them both. "Come on man lets talk about this" tried the two headed man in plaid.

Rick glared at him and the man shrank back a few steps.

" _What are your demands? Answer me damn it!"_ demanded the officer in charge from outside " _If I do not comply within the next five minutes, I will come in there and I will personally fill you so full of lead that you'll be using your dick as a pencil!"_

The police were ready to storm the place but one of the bounty hunters barricaded the doors and another fired a few warning shots to drive them away. Rick groaned at the sight of more cops arriving. The hunters were a major pain in the ass but the police weren't any better either.

The officer who was supposed to be talking Rick down was practically goading him into making a move that could end up in a high body count. Normally he didn't care for cops, in fact he was against them, but for once Rick was really concerned about that certain officer's method of police work. He seemed like the type who has seen too many action movies and very little real action.

Rick hissed at Tessa to move and, together, the two moved to the back of the store. The scientist kept his eyes on each of the hunters, trying to keep them from flanking him. Unfortunately, it seemed like greed outweighed what little honor the members of the group had. Each of the bounty hunters shared looks then the ones who holstered their weapons raised them again as the blue dwarves blocked Rick and Tessa's way out.

Rick swore. "Nice try human" grunted Grog, one of the ogre-gorillas "But you will not get away from us!"

"What about the whole code of honor thing most bounty hunters have?" asked Rick.

Xaz scowled at him "Don't lecture us on honor as you endanger an innocent woman! A situation like this requires that we put our feelings aside in order to uphold justice."

"Besides, the bounty on your head is to large to worry about a thing like honor" chimed the multi-armed alien.

"Indeed," snickered one of the two-headed alien's heads "As long as we deliver you to the courts alive and get our money, who cares if a few stupid humans getting blasted along the way."

"Yeah, after we're done with you, we're going to go after the kid and then maybe have a fun little night on the town while we're at it."

The two heads laughed raucously but a loud, clear voice that silenced them instantly. "I don't think so," said a new voice, sounding sharp and dangerous "I don't believe that you will be having fun tonight…or on any other night."

The lights in the messy crowded convenience store flickered then died with a pop. Shafts of light slipped through the cracks in the makeshift barricade the aliens established at the front door and wide windows. Rick, Tessa and the bounty hunters all looked about them to see the source of the new voice but only saw nothing.

Grog, one of the ogre-gorillas, glared at Rick "Your human tricks won't work on us."

"Uh, for-for once this isn't me" said Rick, innocently. The ogre-gorilla aimed his weapon at Rick's face and began to squeeze the trigger. Rick turned his own weapon on Grog in a last hope that it might deter the hunter but was surprised to see Grog's gun clatter to the floor…with his hand. Everyone looked at the severed hand, still clinging to the large handgun, shocked. Glittering emerald blood spurted out of his now handless arm, splashing all over the floor and covering some scattered snack food packets. The big, burly alien looked at his stumpy, bleeding arm in utter shock.

It took a moment for pain to register but when it finally did, Grog's face contorted with pain and he let out a powerful scream that rattled the entire building. Grog's partner swore and took aim as well, but the large alien suddenly split down the middle and covered the cockroach alien in a fountain of green blood and chunks of flesh and hair. The cockroach screeched, using his multiple arms, started wiping the blood off of him and swung his weapons in an attempt to hit the unseen attacker. Despite his speed and constant swinging, the cockroach's weapons were sent flying from his arms and he started to float. Rising a few inches off of the ground, the cockroach alien gagged and screeched in his language as a fist sized hole appeared in the creature's thorax.

Yellow gooey matter splashed all over the store and landed on something standing right under the cockroach. Rick's eyes widened a little. The goo slowly oozed downward, slowly making visible the invisible attacker. Standing taller than Rick, the figure looked like he was armored up and wielding a wrist mounted blade.

The now partially visible attacker tossed aside the dying cockroach and turned his attention to the multi-armed alien and Xaz the fish man.

The two bounty hunters jumped into action. Both moved behind some makeshift covers and fired off their weapons. The dwarves and the two-headed alien joined in. Rick noticed that the way out was now open. He slipped away and made a run for the door. Tessa bolted after him.

Before they reached the door, the blob alien's body was splattered on the wall, inches away from the door. The shattered goopy form slid down the wall and formed a pitiful little puddle. Rick and Tessa paused and they heard the blob creature gurgle a little and reached for the door feebly then stopped.

Rick threw open the door and ran inside, Tessa hesitated for a moment and looked back at the carnage that was occurring a few feet away. The multi-armed alien was lying on the linoleum floor with a huge chunk of his throat missing, several of the dwarf squad were dead and the remaining few were fighting like hell to not get blasted by the blood soaked figure standing in the midst of the dying aliens.

One of the blue dwarves was struggling against the figure's grip, gasping for air and kicking his legs desperately. The figure snapped the dwarf's neck with a single hand and chucked him aside like a broken doll.

Grog, fighting the agonizing pain, attempted to bulldoze the somewhat distracted figure with a tackle but his prey simply sidestepped as the large creature barrel past and crash into the soda coffee machines.

Tessa felt pity well up within her. These poor creatures were being brutally slaughtered, although they were willing to blow her head off for that guy named Rick, who was holding her hostage. She was pulled back to reality when she saw the blood soaked figure slowly turn towards her. Tessa couldn't see the attacker's face but she could feel that it was looking at her.

"If you want to live, get your dumb ass in here!" Rick shouted at her.

The raven-haired woman ducked into the backroom and slammed the door shut behind her. Fumbling around clumsily, Tessa locked the door and pushed a pile of heavy boxes in front of it in an attempt to bar the attacker's way in. She turned to see her hopes go up in smoke. Rick was currently working on his beat up, futuristic looking gun, hastily screwing things together with a pocket-sized screwdriver and adding pieces from a partially dismantled microwave. Other than a wild haired old man in a lab coat with a gun and an old microwave, Tessa saw an exit in the form of a single door but, strangely, saw another pile of boxes blocking that door too. She went to the door to push away the boxes and open it.

"I wouldn't do that," Rick said, not looking up. Tessa stopped and looked at Rick "Why?"

"Cops"

"So, what? They can help us!"

"Fat chance. Did-did-didn't you hear the negotiator out there? They-they're probably going to go Rambo on us once they get through that door and then help scrape us off the tiles after."

Tessa's eyes widened in shock, just as loud thud caused the door to quiver. Time was running out.

"We're trapped!" she cried in horror.

"Not for long" Rick said, re-attaching the gun's casing. Tessa frowned at him "Wait…was your gun broken?" "No…well, I left my real gu*urp*n at home. The one time that I leave it at home, I actually need it!"

"If that isn't your real gun, then what's that?"

"This-this is my portal gun. I just did some last minute modifications to keep it stable during this jump."

Tessa gave him a confused look "Portal gun? Jump?"

"Long story short, it's our ticket out of here, however…"

"However what?"

Rick thought for a moment then answered "There is a high probability rate that we may either escape safely, or have our atoms scattered across multiple dimensions."

"Seriously?"

Rick nodded. Tessa shook her head "There has to be another way." Before Rick could come up with a response, a chunk of the door leading back to the store proper was knocked clear off from the rest of it. Rick and Tessa looked and saw the partially invisible attacker, though now almost fully visible thanks to the blood, wielding one of the now caved in heads of the two-headed alien.

Rick had seen some messed up stuff but the dead alien's head took the cake. The face was completely unrecognizable and was drenched in blood and oozed brain matter. The attacker dropped the alien's pulverized cranium and began removing the little barricade that Tessa built.

Tessa, now far past the point of panicked and reaching the neighborhood of hysterical, grabbed Rick by the lapels of his coat and screamed, "Do it! Use your portal gun damn it!"

The scientist didn't need to be told twice. He switched the gun on. A few slow and agonizing seconds later, Rick fired it at the wall ahead of them. A swirling emerald portal sprang to life in front of them. For a brief moment, Rick felt a sense of nostalgia and relief wash over him but it didn't last. The scientist shoved Tessa through the portal and made a run for it but he felt something snag the edge of his coat. Glancing back, Rick saw it bunched up a little and suspended in mid air beneath a glob of greenish liquid. It was the invisible attacker.

"Let go you piece of shit!" Rick snarled, pulling at his coat. A loud crack sounded and Rick looked and saw the back door starting to bend and buckle beneath the barrage of the police's assault.

Feeling panic rising in his gut, Rick pulled with all his might and his coat suddenly pulled free, causing the scientist to stumble backwards into the portal. Rick felt himself fall through the cool event horizon of the portal and land on solid ground.

Quickly, the elderly man switched off his portal gun and the green wormhole flickered and died.

A few silent moments passed. Rick's heart hammered away in his chest, adrenaline coursed through his veins and mind racing with what had just happened. What was supposed to be a brief stopped devolved into a total shit show. Alien bounty hunters, an invisible assassin and risking his portal gun to save some woman he had tried taking hostage. This was one for the books. The events of the gas station replayed in his mind. The cloaking tech was high-quality stuff if none of the bounty hunters knew that the new guy was there and was deadly as hell if two overgrown gorillas, a giant cockroach and a dozen other skilled bounty hunters didn't even lay a finger on him.

Rick had fought many battles and made many deadly enemies but there were very few who could do what that assassin did. A few moments passed and it slowly dawned on Rick who that assassin was, and he was hoping against all hope that he was wrong for once. Unfortunately, he rarely was.

"Are you ok?" asked Tessa.

Rick looked around and realized that it was pitch dark. After a few seconds, his eyes adjusted and he saw Tessa sitting right next to him. He heard some movement then a faint square of light popped on.

The scientist saw that it was Tessa's phone. From the faint light, the raven-haired woman looked shook up but glad to be alive. A rainbow of various alien blood types were splattered all over her designer jacket and pants. Her raven hair wild and messy and it looked like she lost a shoe.

The scientist looked down and noticed that he was pretty messy himself and he felt his barefoot brush against a cold tile floor, indicating that his shoe must have vanished in the same mysterious way as Tessa's.

Rick nodded "Y-yeah, I'm fine. I might need a new pair of shoes thou*urp*gh."

"Just who were those guys?" Tessa asked.

"The pack of blood thirsty killers: bounty hunters. The invisible murder machine on the other hand, I have no idea."

"Why were they after you?"

The scientist shrugged "I dunno, could-could be anything; tax evasion, loitering, pillaging a village, murder."

"What?"

Rick carried on. "We should be safe here…where-where ever here is."

The scientist and Tessa got to their feet and groped around for a light switch. In a matter of moments, it was located and flipped on. Rick and Tessa found themselves standing in a small bathroom with only one toilet. A sink sat close by with a mirror hanging over it. The walls were covered with various fliers and posters reminding patrons and employees to wash their hands.

The only door opened and standing there was a man in a fancy waiter outfit. He looked the two dirty occupants and a rather shocked and confused look appeared on his face.

Rick glared at the man "Hey, can't you see we're busy here!" The man hastily apologized and closed the door.

Rick and Tessa left the small bathroom and found themselves in a rather modest seafood restaurant. The two weaved their way through the collection of occupied tables, ignoring the strange looks and stares they were receiving and emerged outside on the back porch of the restaurant where there were a few more tables and a gorgeous view of a calm sea and the starry night sky.

Rick plopped down at a empty table that had already been set and Tessa joined him. He pulled out his flask and took a pull. He offered it to his messy companion. She accepted it.

After she gulped down the alcoholic beverage greedily, Rick told her, "You-you can go now. I'm not holding you hostage anymore. Besides, I don't want people to start getting the wrong idea about me being a hero and stuff."

"I know, but my car is back at the gas station" Tessa replied "I'm just going to wait until things calm down a bit and when I have a proper explanation as to how I escaped captivity."

"Oh, right."

As they took turns drinking from Rick's flask, they both cleaned themselves off with the napkins and tablecloth. Eventually, Tessa went to wash up in the bathroom that they teleported into earlier, just as a police helicopter soared overhead and headed off down the coast, slowly blending in with the starry horizon.

Seconds after the helicopter disappeared into the night and Tessa going to the bathroom, the Maheswaran family was being led to their table.

Rick took stock of what had just happened. Bounty hunters tried to grab him and they were also planning on going after Steven too, probably for what happened at that satellite city a while ago. If so, Rick either has to get the hell out of Dodge or take care of this. A brief inspection of his portal gun revealed that most of its power was drained but had enough for a single jump. Running was out and so it looks like he's staying for a bit.

As much as Rick didn't like it, he didn't have much say in this except to lay low and charge up his portal gun. It also gave him more of an opportunity for that little scheme he and Grom were putting together. The only worrisome element in this whole thing is the invisible murder machine that butchered those bounty hunters. So far, Rick has a long few weeks ahead of him.

 _One problem at a time,_ thought Rick. He barked at a passing waiter to bring him some breadsticks. As the young man scurried off to comply with his order, the entire restaurant began to quake a little. Within moments, the restaurant rattled in short, abrupt intervals. Rick frowned and he glanced back and saw a lumbering giant alien with six arms and a mane of mint-green hair stomping into view, shaking the restaurant with each step. Sitting on her shoulders were Steven and his father.

Steven grinned cheerfully, waved and bellowed a greeting "Hi Connie! Hi Mr. and Mrs. Maheswaran!"

Noticing Rick sitting a table away from them, he offered the same greeting. "Hey Rick, you made it! Awesome!"

The elderly scientist sighed deeply. It would seem that the kid isn't one for being casual. That boy was going to be the death of Rick.

* * *

Officer Lionel Brigs was rather new to the force and has yet to see any "action", but after tonight, he wasn't sure if he wanted to. He stood outside the taped off crime scene, with his back to the gory scene. Lionel fought very hard to not look back at the awful scene. He took one look at it and almost vomited.

Once moderately clean and orderly, the entire interior of the store looked like a slaughterhouse. The plain white walls, floor and ceiling were now painted all different shades and hues. All around them were shattered glass, bent plastic and burnt metal. Sizable cracks and impact craters were positioned at various spots on the floor and near the freezer section.

Lionel was one of the first on the scene. No matter how hard he relied on his training, there wasn't anything that would've prepared him for what he saw. Large alien creatures moving around inside the store, barricading themselves inside with some of the shelves and firing off energy blasts at him and his partner, Jake.

One of the others, a more senior cop named Robert, tried to do some negotiating, but he made things worse. He was always going overboard with everything. Fortunately, their back up arrived and when they stormed the place, they found that the place was turned into a nightmare. The perps were "neutralized" as Jake put it. They helped the poor cashier who had been hiding behind the counter the whole time. The young officer could still see the kid. He was a part time employee, a high schooler named Terry; poor kid looked white as a sheet and was shaking more than a bag of jelly during an earthquake.

What he must've seen… the very thought made Lionel shiver. He pushed aside those horrific images and focused on his primary task: keeping the crime scene secure as the other officers wrapped up inside.

Just as he refocused on his task, Lionel saw an odd sight. Strolling towards him and the taped off crime scene in crisp clean suits were two plain looking men. One was tall, rather lanky and had dull blond hair while his companion was slightly shorter, looked more muscular and had black hair.

"Can I help you fellas?" Lionel asked.

The two men flashed him some ID badges. The tall blond spoke in a firm business like tone "I'm Special Agent Finch and this is my partner, Special Agent Winters." The dark haired man nodded. "We're with the FBI."

"FBI?" Lionel repeated, surprised "What business does the Bureau have in our neck of the woods?"

"Investigating a potential threat to national security" replied Special Agent Winters, coolly. Lionel frowned "security threat?"

Before the officer could ask questions, Agent Finch flashed an official looking document in his face. "As of right now, this is our investigation," Agent Finch informed.

Lionel was taken aback. They were just getting started and now the feds were suddenly taking over. What the hell was going on? The detective could complain or just disregard the paper but he stopped himself. Despite his training, Lionel had very little idea of where to start with all this. To be honest, it looked like something out of a sci-fi horror movie. The two agents also looked like they meant business and weren't going to let some copper get in the way. There were also other things he had to worry about. Perhaps he should let this one go.

Lionel stepped aside and lifted the police tape, granting them entrance. Agent Winters ducked inside, his partner withdrew a small grey device and held it up to Lionel's face. "Could you possibly look here for just a moment?" the agent asked politely.

The young officer thought it weird but did as he asked. Suddenly everything went white.

* * *

Lionel blinked and looked around him. He was sitting in the patrol car, Jake sitting beside him in the driver's seat with a half eaten donut in his hand and was mouthing along to a pop song on the radio.

The young officer frowned in confusion. How did he get here? What was he doing? Wasn't there something important that he was supposed to be doing? There was something terribly important that he had to do and there was something wrong about this whole thing but he just couldn't remember why. Before he could delve deeper into his situation, Jake interrupted his thoughts. "Hey man, you dozed off there for a sec."

Lionel blinked a few times and looked about him. The patrol car was parked behind the 'Welcome to Beach City' sign with the highway sitting a few feet ahead of them, silent as a grave. Something clicked in Lionel's mind and within seconds, the uneasy feeling that hung over him dissipated like smoke.

Before long, the young officer forgot what he was worried about, including the terrible crime scene and the strange two men in suits who claimed to be with the government.

* * *

After dealing with the local police inside and outside the store and sending them on their way, Agents Finch and Winters were given some space to inspect the crime scene on their own and without interruption. The two had overseen the clean up of the crash site and had noticed that someone else was interested in the crash. After a protracted stakeout of a few days, the two agents spotted someone leaving the crash site and tracked him down to Beach City.

They went to find this person and ask him a few questions but then picked up something more interesting coming in over the local police radio frequency. They turned around and managed to reach the station before the local cops contaminated the site any further.

Winters inspected each of the corpses and cataloged them. Each of the dead aliens from species they have never seen before. Finch collected a blood and tissue samples and took pictures of the scene. The two worked quickly and thoroughly, making sure that they don't miss the smallest of details.

Which brought them to the fingerprints.

While wrapping up his inspection of the backroom, Agent Finch inspected the old microwave and, with the aid of high tech spectacles, discovered some fingerprints and a lock of hair. The blond haired man deposited the hair sample into a special plastic bag and he used a thin strip of a clear material and applied it to the fingerprints. Finch smoothed the strip out and rubbed the section covering the fingerprint once then peeled it away. The fingerprint was gone but was now stuck the thin strip. The agent fished out a small handheld device and inserted the fingerprint into a small slot on the side. Images and words flashed across the small screen for several seconds, as the device tried matching the fingerprint to every fingerprint they have in their database. The device beeped and an image and name came up.

Finch's eyebrows rose. "Huh" the blond man said.

"What is it?" Winters asked as he entered the backroom.

He showed his partner the device's screen. Winter's eyebrow rose in surprise "Huh"

"I know, right."

"That is strange."

"What do you think?" "I say we send this off to HQ with the samples and see what they make of it." Finch nodded, his gaze still holding on the little device in his hand. After a moment of staring at the scanner in utter disbelief, the blond man pocketed it. With quickness and efficiency, the two agents packed up the samples they collected. Finch carried it all in a sleek metal suitcase and locked it away safely in their car.

Meanwhile, Agent Winters pulled out several small silver cube like objects and placed each one on all of the twisted alien bodies. Once he was done with that, he pulled out a pen like device that emitted a ray of blue light like a flashlight and ran the beam of light over every square inch of the store. As the light passed over the bloody splotches, the stains disappeared.

Moments later, there wasn't a single trace of alien blood.

After completion, Winter's exited the store and pressed a button on his wrist watch. A blinding white light engulfed the inside of the store for a brief instant and died. Just like the blood, the bodies were gone. Once clean up was complete, Agent Winter's went to the car. Once inside the car, the two drove off.

As the gas station slowly shrank in the distance behind them, Winter's reported "Clean up complete. Blood and corpses have been taken care of."

"Good. According to my scans, the modified memories are holding," replied Finch "I had to do some fine tuning, considering that those officers were there from the start." Winter's nodded. It may seem sinister and cruel to cover up these strange things and alter people's memories but in the experience of both agents, its better that people forget the terrible things that they've seen and carry on with their lives like normal.

The black sedan raced up the road and faded into the night, heading off to tie up a loose end.

* * *

Despite years of experience and careful implementation of the organization's protocol, the two agents failed to notice a certain blogger hiding in some bushes across the way from the gas station.

He missed most of the action but he did see two men in suits drive off with a suspicious looking case.

Whatever was going on, Ronaldo knew that he hit the jackpot.

* * *

A short distance up the road, after being passed by a nondescript black car on the road, Greg Universe walked on home, alone. The dinner with the Maheswaran family went better than expected. It was rather difficult to maintain the façade of being married to Alexandrite.

It was a little uncomfortable for him and extremely uncomfortable for the gems. Greg knew that it wasn't going to work out but he did what he could for Steven.

Rick pitched in and pretended to be a distant relative who just blew into town. The middle-aged musician was actually glad that the elderly scientist was there. A lot of Mrs. Maheswaran's attention was diverted to Rick when he revealed his scientific background. The two had a civil and intelligent discussion, though Greg could tell that Mrs. Maheswaran was being repulsed by Rick's alcohol laced breath. Eventually attention was aimed back at Greg.

It got awkward very quickly. The gems did their best under the circumstances. Eventually the truth came out and after seeing how caring the gems were, Mrs. Maheswaran saw that they were good caregivers and allowed Connie to continue seeing Steven. It all worked out in the end.

The Maheswaran's went home, the gems fused and took Steven home, Rick stayed at the restaurant to finish eating his lobster, which left Greg alone.

He would've taken the bus, but Alexandrite damaged the one Steven and Connie used. It would've taken a long while to wait for a new one to arrive, so Greg decided to walk.

It wasn't so bad. Walking was good for his health and the silence and the fresh air really helps him think. On a walk such as this, Greg found some inspiration for a new song or a something. However, as the musician slowly progressed back to town, some new thoughts came to mind.

Being alone on the long and winding country road, trudging onwards beneath an ocean of glimmering stars, Greg felt a dull ache in his heart. He wasn't entirely sure what it was but it felt familiar to a different feeling: loneliness. Seeing the Maheswaran's together, smiling and happy. It made the middle-aged musician feel odd, like something was missing from his life.

A loud honk shattered Greg's train of thought. He turned and saw the blinding light of a car's headlights a few inches away from him. Greg realized that he was walking down the middle of the road. Embarrassed, the musician stepped off to the side. The car pulled up along side him and the window rolled down.

"Hey, need a ride?" a friendly voice asked.

"Uh, sure" Greg replied, happily "If-if its no problem."

"No problem at all!"

The musician got into the passenger side and buckled himself in. He looked at the driver and froze. Sitting behind the wheel was a beautiful woman with black hair and sapphire blue eyes. "So, where are you off to?" the woman asked, her voice soft and sweet.

"To-to-to the car wash: It's a Wash." Greg blurted out.

"Ok…but where is that?"

"Huh?"

"I'm kinda new to Beach City, so you'll have to show me."

The musician nodded "O-ok."

A brief, several minute ride later, the car pulled up in front of the car wash. All was locked up and quiet, his van sitting right where he left it. For some reason Greg felt a little embarrassed about his abode, though he never really cared about what people saw of his van or car wash. At least, he didn't care what they saw of the outside.

"Here we are!" said the woman. "Hey, thanks for the ride" Greg said.

The woman shrugged "No problem. Just trying to be a Good Samaritan."

The musician smiled and extended a hand "I don't think we've been properly introduced. I'm Greg, Greg Universe."

"I'm Tessa," the woman replied "Tessa Whitehall."

"So you're new to Beach City?"

"Yeah. I just moved out here from New York for, uh, a change of scene."

"Well, you've picked an awesome place to move to."

"Really?"

"Yep," Greg said, proudly "Beach City is awesome! You're going to love it here."

"I hope so." Tessa paused for a second then said "Hey, since I'm new and you're the only person that I know from around here, do you think you can suggest a good restaurant that's open late. I've had a long day and I need to eat something."

"Sure, there's the Taco Shack a few streets over." "Thanks, you're a life saver!"

Greg got out of the car and bid her goodbye. Tessa returned the favor then drove off. The car wash owner stood there and watched until the blue, compact car disappeared around a corner. He remained there for a few long moments then decided to head off to bed.

Greg, after reaching his van, glanced back over his shoulder. For some reason, deep down, the middle-aged musician hoped to see Tessa again.

End of Chapter

* * *

 **(a/n: So, what do you think? Again, sorry for the long wait. I've been busy, lazy and i've been trying to figure out how to make this chapter good. It ran a little too long but whatever. Just saw the start of Season 3 of Rick and Morty and it was interesting. See you next time.)**


	6. Pt 6: Keepin

**(a/n: Sorry for the looong wait. Enjoy!)**

* * *

Part 6: Keepin' it Real

Steven was bored. The half-gem trotted down the beach in search of something to do.

After a fun game of Steven tag, Steven, Amethyst and Garnet tried to enlist Pearl but she refused and the other two gems decided that they had enough too. With nothing else to do at his house, Steven decided to go see Rick and see if he wanted to do something.

Steven left the beach and was making his way down the boardwalk to head to the U-Stor when he spotted Ronaldo crouching behind a trashcan, keeping a keen eye on Beach Citywalk Fries. Steven, feeling curious, decided to check on the blogger and see what he was doing.

He sidled up to the blogger and whispered "Hey Ronaldo, what're you doing?"

The blond teenager jumped and spun around to see Steven. He looked like he was about to have a heart attack but he was somewhat relieved to see Steven.

"Steven, dude, don't sneak up on me like that!" Ronaldo chided, "I am in the middle of a important covert stakeout."

"A stakeout, kind of like a cop or a detective?" Steven said, excited.

Ronaldo nodded "Yeah, like a detective."

"Cool! Can I join you?"

"Sure, but keep quiet and stay down, this can be dangerous."

"Ok. So…why are you staking out Beach Citywalk Fries?"

Ronaldo pointed toward two customers "Because of them!"

Steven squinted at the two customers. The two were well-dressed men. They wore matching black suits and looked rather plain. One was tall, rather lanky and had blond hair. The other man was slightly shorter, looked more muscular and had jet-black hair. The blond man was talking with Peedee, Ronaldo's younger brother, while the other one was munching on some fries.

"Those guys?" Steven asked.

Ronaldo nodded, looking grim.

"Who are they?"

"Government agents, they've come to cover up the truth."

"The truth?"

Ronaldo nodded "Yeah, the truth."

"Truth about what?"

Ronaldo looked at Steven as if he were telling a bad joke. "Uh, the truth about everything! Aliens! Monsters and other massive conspiracies! For years they've been keeping the truth hidden and now they're here to silence me."

"For what?"

"My blog, _Keep Beach City Weird,_ on there I chronicle all the weird stuff that happens in this town including the gems and the massive space ship that appeared during that beach party."

Steven nodded, understanding what Ronaldo was saying. "So what do we do?" Steven asked.

Ronaldo pondered for a moment then declared, "We can't let these agents catch me and we cannot let them bury the truth by destroying everything related to aliens."

Steven nodded then he got an idea. "We should go tell Rick, he knows a lot about aliens, he could probably help!" Ronaldo nodded.

Steven and Ronaldo slipped away from their hiding place and started off towards the U-Store; Steven hoped that Rick was ok and would be able to help.

* * *

Rick was not ok and was not able to help anyone at the moment. The scientist was currently dead.

His body was lying out on the warm concrete, silent and unmoving. It didn't seem that he would be of much help to anyone, at least until a sharp electrical jolt ripped Rick back to the land of the living.

The scientist bolted upright, gasping for air and coughing up dust, his throat raw and dry as sandpaper. He looked around and saw that he was outside his lab, sitting across from its now smoking entrance. The scientist was confused as to why his secret lab was on fire and as to why his entire body ached at the moment. After devoting some thought to it, everything came rushing back to his mind like a flood.

He was in his lab working on something important when some tentacle alien showed up and declared that Rick's lab would serve as a beachhead in some sort of invasion. Some choice words were exchanged and in the ensuing scuffle, Rick carved the would-be conqueror up like a turkey and left the poor bastard to gush neon green all over the floor. The alien must have been equipped with some sort of self-destruct device, because all Rick could remember was everything growing warm and bright and then waking up outside.

The scientist looked to his left and saw, kneeling beside him, was his ever-loyal mechanical accomplice, Grom.

Rick scowled at Grom and grunted, "Where were you?"

"Out getting those parts you ordered" Grom replied calmly. The scientist remembered and he nodded, understanding. "How long was I out?"

"You were out for a few minutes until I resuscitated you with air and a small voltage" Grom reported, "I also had to use some of my medical foam to seal up your wounds and treat the burns. We may have to buy some more."

"Ri*urp*ght" Rick belched. The scientist got to his feet, wobbling a little bit and leaning against Grom for support. The two stood there, watching as choking black smoke trickled forth and pollute the clear sky above.

"What's the damage this time?" Rick asked.

"From my observations as I dragged you out of the lab, most of the equipment suffered some significant damage but are salvageable. There was also a matter of biological contamination due to the creature's guts and blood splattered everywhere but it was cleansed by the blast."

"But everything's good, right?"

Grom nodded. Rick smiled "Good. Our little project should be fine in its container. Fortunately we shelled out a few extra Flurbos for the good box. In the meantime, I could use a drink… and an aspirin."

The mechanoid, with Rick leaning against him for support, escorted his friend to the flying car parked around back.

* * *

Meanwhile, in the underground lab, partially buried beneath a mound of research notes and dirty magazines, a smooth silver box shifted a little.

A soft thud could be heard from within and a small section of the box's metal exterior gained a lump. A few more thuds and the lump bulged until it burst open.

A small shape emerged and scurried out of the box.

Freed, the small creature let out a triumphant cry and began its search for a way out of the messy lab, just as its tiny body slowly gained mass and size.

* * *

As Steven and Ronaldo made their way to U-Store, the blogger felt fear and excitement bubbling away in his gut.

For years Ronaldo had been a champion of truth and was willing to go the extra length to uncover the truth. On the one hand, he was overjoyed that he stumbled onto something concrete and earth shattering. On the other hand, Ronaldo didn't anticipate those two men in suits to arrive so quickly. He knew that they were government agents because the evidence was undeniable. They were there at that gas station that night, the same night that there was police chatter about a hostage situation. How they found him, Ronaldo would have to worry about it another time.

For now, he was on the run like a real truth finder and he was about to speak with Rick about aliens. The blogger had been meaning to speak to the wild haired scientist for some time, since he seemed to know a lot about aliens and science.

Unfortunately, every time he tried meet Rick something distracted him or got in the way. A foul, smokey smell snapped Ronaldo out of his thoughts. Up ahead, a plume of black smoke arose from the storage locker facility. The blogger felt his heart stop for a moment.

Was that a fire? If so, did that mean that those government agents were on to them and gotten to Rick first? Millions of questions raced through the blogger's mind but was brought back to the present by Steven's voice.

"Oh no!" Steven cried, horrified "Rick!" He took off running towards the U-Store. Ronaldo hurried after him.

When they arrived, they found Rick's locker wide-open and leaking smoke. "Rick! Rick!" Steven called out to his friend. He rushed over to the smoking locker and tried to enter but the heat and smoke forced him out. A million different thoughts ran through Steven's head as dread began to slide down his throat.

"This is bad, this is really bad!" Steven said with panic rising in his voice, "This is like in one of those spy movies my dad talked about! He's probably hurt! We got to go the hospital and see if he's ok!"

"No!" Ronaldo exclaimed.

The half-gem looked at the blogger "Why not?"

"If those government agents were behind this, they've already got to Rick and they'll be watching the hospitals and they will be waiting to finish us off there."

"Then what do we do?"

Ronaldo scratched his chin and tried to come up with a plan when a loud sound came from within Rick's smoky garage. Steven and the blond blogger turned and saw a shape move in the thick black cloud. The shape moved towards them, sounds of movement growing louder until the figure emerged, revealing it to be…a small doughy man.

Steven and Lars stared at the doughy creature in silence for a long moment. What was this thing? Was this an alien? It certainly looked like it. Roughly the size of an action figure, the little creature looked like an unbaked man made of cookie dough; smooth, creamy and featureless, except for the two tiny eyeless eye sockets. The little dough man turned its bald cranium, inspecting the world around it. It stopped when it's gaze reached Steven and Ronaldo.

The dough man sat there for a few moments, silently observing the two.

"Wha-what is that?" Ronaldo wondered aloud.

"Its probably an alien" Steven suggested.

The dough man let out a terrified squeak and took off running.

"Wait, don't run off!" Steven called after the creature. He took off after it.

Ronaldo, feeling his pulse quicken and a sense of adventure rising, gave chase.

Just as the blogger and the half-gem left the U-Stor, Grom returned to the smoking locker. His arms shifted into power tools and a visor slid into place over his face. The mechanoid stepped into the smoke and slid the garage door shut. He had work to do and he needed privacy.

* * *

Steven and Ronaldo chased the small dough man for a few blocks and wound up trying to coax it out from underneath a dumpster. When sweet words failed, Ronaldo tried to push it out of its hiding space with a stick.

The doughy creature hissed and left its hiding space, but it went running between Steven's legs and raced around the corner. Steven gave chase.

The dough man led Steven down the street, weaving in and out of telephone poles and light posts, and under a mailbox. The half-gem narrowly avoided tripping and running into something solid a few times but just barely. Worried about the government agents and the possibility of the little doughy man getting caught, Steven quickened his pace and caught sight of the little glob of dough. It was across the street.

After looking around discreetly, the creature hopped into a brown paper bag that was sitting on the ground by a bench that was facing the beach.

Slowing down a little, not wanting to frighten the creature, Steven crossed over and carefully tiptoed toward the bag. When he was just inches away from the rustling container, Steven snapped it up declaring, "I got you!"

A squeak sounded from within the bag and there was some rustling but Steven kept the mouth of the paper sack closed to prevent the creature from escaping. The creature continued to struggle a little but after some calm reassurances from Steven, the doughy alien finally relaxed.

Opening the bag, Steven took a peek into the bag and saw the creature looking up at him with large, empty eye sockets. At first, Steven thought the creature was just a creepy, featureless uncooked gingerbread man but Steven as watched the creature attempt to nibble on a sandwich that was wrapped in plastic with its toothless mouth, the half gem thought the little creature was kind of adorable and was probably friendly.

"Excuse me," a soft voice said.

Steven blinked and turned to see a raven-haired woman in a white coat sitting on the bench right next to where Steven was standing.

"May I have my lunch back, please?" the woman asked. The half-alien looked down at the bag and then scratched his head awkwardly.

"Uh, sure but, um…you see there's something in your bag."

"Oh?" said the woman.

Steven showed the woman the little doughy creature that had taken shelter in the paper bag. The woman cocked an eyebrow as the little creature cozied up against the sandwich that it tried to devour seconds earlier.

"What's this?"

"I don't know" Steven said, "I think it might be an alien."

"An alien?" the woman asked, a curious look appeared on her face. Steven nodded.

The woman frowned a little "Well, it would explain why it looks like a little wad of dough or muck."

The creature looked up at them, though its gaze lingered on the woman's face. The woman stuck her finger in the bag and gently poked the creature's belly, which earned her a soft giggling sound. When she tried to withdraw her hand from the bag, the creature hugged her finger and made a gurgling sound.

Steven smiled "He likes you."

"I guess so," The woman said, smiling as well.

The half-gem didn't recognize the woman. Growing up in Beach City, Steven was familiar with everyone and knew everybody by name. The only people he didn't know were people from outside of Beach City or were new, like those two men in suits, and this woman. For a moment, the half-alien considered that the woman might be working with those two strange men but seeing the dough man's reaction and the look in her sapphire eyes, Steven had a feeling that he could trust this woman.

"Sorry about an alien getting into your lunch bag, Miss…" Steven apologized.

"Whitehall, but you can call me Tessa," the woman said warmly. "Anyway, its fine. I can probably go to Fish Stew Pizza or the Taco Shack if I'm still feeling hungry."

"Are you new to Beach City?"

"Yep. Just moved in four days ago from New York."

Steven looked at Tessa's attire and asked, "Are you a doctor?"

Tessa looked down at her attire and grinned sheepishly "Kind of…I'm a veterinarian."

"That so cool! What kind of animals do you work with?"

"I deal mostly with house pets, but in the past I have dealt with more exotic creatures." Steven's eyes widened in amazement and listened as the woman regale him with stories of various animals she worked with in the past, all while being oblivious to a shiny black Sedan approaching at a slow speed.

* * *

Agent Finch and Agent Winters were making some headway with this Podunk little town.

After going through the gas station and filing some reports, the two agents combed through the surrounding areas, asking questions of the county's more isolated inhabitants and worked their way into Beach City proper. Thus far, the agents already questioned the Pizza family, some teenagers at the doughnut shop and everyone at Beach Citywalk Fries under the guise of federal agents in search of a runaway fugitive.

After hours of subtle questions, the two managed to compile a small collection of interesting information. While driving down the road, Agent Winters scanned the buildings they passed and weighed whether or not they were worth checking out. So far, nothing really stood out to him as suspicious or worth checking out. During their time in town, Agent Winters was getting a strange feeling. He didn't know how to describe it. It was as if his awareness and attention to detail was being dulled and that he just wanted to relax and not focus on anything, while at the same time, deep down, he felt a little uneasy and that this relaxed feeling wasn't natural.

The agent merely chalked it up to stress and having very little vacation time. He turned his gaze towards the beach and saw a woman in a white coat and a young boy wearing red shirt with a star in the middle. For a moment he thought that it was just some woman and her kid but he looked again and noticed that they didn't resemble each other and the boy's t-shirt seemed familiar to him. _A boy in a red shirt with a gold star on it,_ Agent Winters thought to himself _why does that sound familiar? Was it in a report or something?_

Before he could devote more thought to it, the agent's attention was snatched away by a white truck with a giant head and speakers on the roof. Plastered to its side was a colorful sign that screamed " _Vote Mayor Dewey!"_

Agent Winters cocked an eyebrow. The kid can wait. The agents definitely needed to speak with the mayor.

* * *

Steven peered into the one of the hundreds of cages that lined the wall in the back of the veterinarian's office and stuck his finger through the gap between the bars. The cage's occupant, a small grey cat, sniffed his finger and then began licking. "That tickles," Steven chuckled.

Tessa smiled "You can take him out and play with him. The little guy needs the exercise."

The half-alien smiled and opened the cage door. He picked up the cat. Cradling him in the crook of his arm, Steven scratched the cat behind the ear.

"What's his name?" the half-alien asked.

The veterinarian shrugged, "I don't know. He's a stray. Didn't have a collar on when they found him. I've been meaning to give him a name for a while so… how about you name him, if you want."

"I can?"

Tessa nodded "Of course"

Steven gave it some thought. A name eventually came to mind. "How about Smokey, you know for the grey fur."

"That's a good name. I like it, it really suits him." Steven blushed a little as Tessa tousled his hair.

The veterinarian went back to the other side of the room and resumed her examination of the pale-grey doughy alien. The little alien seemed very happy to see her again, despite looking terribly ill.

During one of Tessa's stories, Steven noticed that the little doughy creature was looking a little ill. The alien was making some soft whining noises and its lumpy body was bubbling and growling. Not really sure if he was sick or if it was something that was normal for the creature. He figured the little alien was hungry and tried to feed it with some of Tessa's extra sandwich, but the creature shunned the offered food. Slowly, his condition worsened. Tessa volunteered to give it a check up. Despite the creature's biology being outside of her field of expertise, the veterinarian wanted to see if she could help it.

As Tessa did some check ups on the creature, Steven played with Smokey the cat and some of the other animals. When playing got boring, Steven pulled up a stool and sat by Tessa and watched her work.

Though the little doughy alien moaned in pain and shifted about uncomfortably, he seemed to calm down when Tessa hummed a tune softly and gently rubbed his smooth cranium. Steven brought Smokey up onto the counter to try and have the cat play with the alien but the cat looked away in disinterest and hopped off.

After almost a half-hour, Steven, Tessa and some of the animals jumped as the front door slammed open and a familiar voice shouted "Steven!"

Smokey hissed and bounded for cover while some of the dogs started barking. Soon more animals joined in the chorus of agitated looked up from her patient and scowled.

"What in the world?" the veterinarian murmured. She got up and went to the front to see who disturbed her animals.

Steven recognized the voice and joined her at the front. After the two were gone, a small guinea pig that Steven was playing with started inching its way towards the now sickly looking alien. Before leaving, the half-gem placed the guinea pig next to the alien creature in an attempt to have an animal befriend the creature after his attempt with Smokey failed.

Unfortunately, this particular alien didn't make friends, even with others of its kind.

Once the guinea pig wandered within range, the weary, sickly creature's head turned toward the other animal. The lumpy little dough man reached out and, with lightning speed, lunged and ensnared the guinea pig in a blob of grey gooey substance that sprouted from the alien's arm. Before it could squeal in surprise, the dough creature retracted the ensnared guinea pig and swallowed the captured creature whole.

Immediately, the alien's lumpy body stopped growling and bubbling. Then it grew a few inches, in both height and width. Another thing worth noting was that its features were slowly changing. Its smooth, near featureless face grew wider and adopted a hungry expression. With renewed energy, the little doughy humanoid got up and looked around at the backroom filled with animals. The little alien's eyeless sockets carried a voracious appetite. The doughy creature hopped down from the counter and began to feast.

* * *

Meanwhile in the front room, Steven tried to calm Ronaldo down.

"Ronaldo, Tessa's a friend, she's only trying to help."

"Yeah right" snorted the blogger "She's probably just pretending to be your friend in order to entrap us and take our alien. For all we know, she probably working for the government."

Tessa let out an amused laugh. She tried to reason with the blond teenager but Ronaldo didn't seem convinced. After a few more failed attempts to reason with Ronaldo, the veterinarian got fed up. She chastised the blogger for upsetting the animals in her care and for being a nuisance with his outrageous accusations.

"How do we know that you're not simply keeping us here, distracting us while your friends in the suits close in on our position?" Ronaldo demanded.

"That's the thing, you don't know. Then again what you're saying is completely nonsensical" Tessa retorted.

"How is it nonsensical?"

"If I was with the government, then Steven wouldn't be here. I'd have already turned him over to my friends for experiments and interrogation. Besides, you two were separated for so long, how do I know that _you_ aren't a government agent?"

"Me?" Ronaldo croaked.

"Yeah, you." Tessa said, her voice loaded with suspicion "You were separated from Steven an awfully long time and have no one else to confirm your whereabouts, for all I know you could've been captured and replaced with a clone or have been brainwashed into finding and capturing Steven and the alien."

Ronaldo opened his mouth to respond but no words came out. The blogger fumbled for words for a few moments until he muttered "Good point."

"Besides" Tessa said, gently "I got your alien creature in the back. He looks sick. I don't have the right equipment or the know-how to help him. Maybe we should-" a loud crash, followed by an inhuman scream, abruptly cut Tessa off.

Tessa rushed to the back room with Steven and Ronaldo in tow. Sunlight greeted the three. The veterinarian was horrified to see the entire back half of her work place completely gone, from the wall to the medical equipment all the way down to the animals, including the doughy little alien. Tessa's eyes widened in horror, her face turned white as chalk.

"W-what the hell?" murmured the veterinarian, groping around for words to express her incredulity and for an explanation but was failing.

"It's the government!" cried Ronaldo dramatically "They must've taken the alien!"

"I don't think that it was them," Steven said, sounding unsure. It seemed plausible but the more Steven looked about at the absence of the back room and all its contents, the half-gem wasn't so sure. All that remained of the room were some broken bricks that were still where the walls once were.

While Ronaldo continued to prattle on about government agencies and prison and while Steven pondered the cause of the destruction, Tessa noticed something caught on a bit of rebar. She knelt down pulled it free and she froze.

"Uh, I think I have an idea of who's behind all this" the veterinarian announced. Steven and Ronaldo looked her way as she held up a wad of pale fleshy matter.

Silence fell on the three of them. The tiny little dough creature did this? Before anyone could even voice their question or put forth a theory, a loud crunch of metal could be heard, followed by an ear splitting scream. Without really thinking, Steven took off running towards the sound.

"Wait Steven it could be dangerous!" Tessa exclaimed, running after him.

Ronaldo hesitated for a moment. Part of him screamed to run the other way and hide from the possibility of being eaten by a monstrous ball of dough and from being captured and tortured by the government. But another part of him urged him to go after Steven. As a self-proclaimed seeker of truth, it was his duty to go. With no other choice, and with the fear of being blamed for destroying the clinic, Ronaldo gave chase and was hoping that he wasn't going to regret this.

* * *

Rick was having a rather decent day. Sure it sucked when that wannabe conqueror from some neighboring dimension showed up and wrecked his lab but the scientist felt like things were shaping up for him now.

For instance, Rick found a new favorite hang out. It was a small dive bar with a somewhat cool name: _The Crow's Nest_.

Situated on the far side of Beach City and away from the more touristy parts of town, the little bar was a welcomed breath of fresh air. It reminded Rick of home. The bar was dimly lit and had an atmosphere of grime and age. The air was constantly polluted with the smell of cigarettes, greasy food and stale beer. Despite the scant tropical and nautical themed decorations, rock music blared over loudspeaker as patrons drank from novelty mugs that were shaped like skulls, ate and played pool. Another reason why Rick was growing fond of this little place was for the people.

It wasn't because they were good company, far from it. A number of them gave Rick an unpleasant kind of look and some of them looked like the kind of guys who would kill him and take his cash without blinking. The only guy who actually seemed friendly was the barkeeper, a large burly man named Ed. What really drew Rick to this place was the fact that all the patrons sucked at pool.

After a few drinks, some guys challenged the scientist to a few games. Feeling the need to unwind, Rick agreed and ordered some drinks for everyone.

A few rounds of pool later, Rick had won a few hundred bucks off of a couple of bikers and their girlfriends.

At the moment, Rick and his opponent, a bearded man named Ray, were finishing up their latest game. Most of the patrons in the bar had gathered around and watched the proceedings with interest. The scientist had to admit, Ray was pretty good, though the standard for good in this particular building was fairly low. After sinking the last ball, Rick laughed triumphantly while Ray cursed his luck.

The mad scientist reached out and awaited his winnings.

Ray scowled "Come on man, best two out three!"

"You-you've been saying that for like the last hour" Rick belched, "Come on, don't be a baby and pay uuu*urp*p." The bearded biker grumbled as he grabbed his wallet and fished out forty dollars.

The scientist counted the bills then tucked them safely away in his coat pocket. Looking around at the assembled crowd, Rick said "Alright, who's next?"

Nobody answered. The gathered patrons avoided Rick's gaze and pretended to be hard of hearing. "Come on, don't be shy, who here thinks they can win all this money?" No reply.

After a few moments of coaxing and boasting, Rick gave up. He set aside his pool cue and went to get a new drink. The crowd around the pool table dispersed and everyone returned to what they were doing before becoming entranced by Rick's game.

Ray, meanwhile, felt like challenging Rick to one last game, believing that he can beat the scientist but his girlfriend felt bored and wanted to go somewhere else. At first he resisted, wanting to get his money back from Rick but Ray eventually relented.

He grabbed his jacket, paid his tab and the two went outside and were greeted by a horrible sight.

In the bar, Rick was busy counting his winnings when there was a scream and a crunch of metal coming from outside. The scientist paused and listened to the sounds. Under the heavy rock music that was blasting through the speakers, Rick could hear metal grinding on metal, followed up by some crunching then more screams. Normally something like this would attract his attention, but Rick was busy at the moment with more important things, like money.

Unfortunately, the universe seemed inclined to piss Rick off, which came when the front door, along with most of the front of the bar, exploded inward.

The hailstorm of debris and the powerful, bestial roar knocked Rick off his feet.

Once he landed, Rick's instincts kicked in. The scientist rolled underneath a nearby table for cover and did what he could to shake off the daze he gained. From his hiding place, Rick saw people scattering like frightened animals while some were hiding and others were buried under rubble. Loud, heavy footfall caused the entire bar to tremble. The trembling grew more frequent as the footfalls grew closer. From his hiding place, Rick saw two pale-grey, trunk-like legs stomping into view.

A few of the bar's patrons close to him scrambling away, screaming in terror. They didn't get far, as large pale arms composed of gooey matter captured each of them, hoisting them up into the air and into the maw of a horrifying creature.

Rick caught sight of the creature. It took a moment for him to recognize it. "No…no! Not now!" Rick hissed angrily.

The creature scooped up more of the bars patrons and absorbed them into its fleshy mass. Some tried to fight the creature off. The remaining patrons fired off a few rounds from their concealed weapons, while some chucked broken furniture at it but the pitiful resistance was quickly gobbled up along with their weapons and ammo. A loud belch was issued forth from the creature, sounding like thunder, then the massive pale-grey creature stomped away, leaving Rick behind in the ruined bar. The powerful footfalls caused the rest of the ruined bar to collapse and bury Rick under his table and a mound of dust and rubble.

The mad scientist waited for a few good moments in silence.

Once he was sure that the alien creature was gone, Rick began digging his way out suffocating mound of rubble that buried him in his hiding place. As the scientist tunneled his way to freedom, frustration and anger entered his mind. What the hell was that thing doing out of its box? A hundred such thoughts raced through his mind. He had to recapture or kill that creature before the gems see it, or else his little scheme was going to go up in flames.

* * *

Steven, Tessa and Ronaldo stopped to catch their breath and survey the damage.

The scream Steven heard moments ago belonged to a frightened woman, who saw some "blobby beast" gobble up her car and stomp off. The trio was able to follow this beast by the trail of destruction left in its wake. Broken power lines and telephone poles, shattered windows, and concrete ripped up from the ground. The further they went, the worse the destruction.

Eventually the three reached a part of Beach City that was a little older than the rest and a little more run down. The trail of destruction seemed to have stopped but they picked it up again when they heard more screaming.

Steven rushed to catch the beast in the act but was too late to stop it. He only managed to catch a look at it. The monster was huge. Standing on two thick legs, the creature was hunched over and had a thick fleshy body. It was pawing through the shattered remains of a ratty looking old building and when it was done the creature let out a loud belch and stomped away, with globs of gooey fleshy matter dripping off its body.

Tessa and Ronaldo managed to catch up to the half-gem and they both got a good look of the monster. Tessa looked even more frightened than before but she stayed, determined to help Steven and, hopefully, keep him from danger.

Ronaldo was documenting the whole thing via his smartphone. He was filming the ruined building, carefully stepping over chewed up tires, chunks of metal and wood, dramatically narrating about the monster's terrible rampage and the destruction it caused thus far.

A hand burst out of the mound of rubble right next to Ronaldo, which made him shriek like a little girl. The hand wiggled around a little and soon an arm, then a head emerged from the mound, revealing that it belonged to Rick Sanchez. Ronaldo regained some composure and announced dramatically "Behold, a survivor of the monster's carnage!"

Rick scowled at the teenager as the blogger shoved the camera into the scientist's face.

"Get that camera out of my face," the scientist growled, "before I use it to give you a colonoscopy!"

Ronaldo immediately backed away. Rick pulled himself free from the debris and dusted himself off.

"Rick!" Steven cried, "You're alive!" the half gem ran over to the scientist and embraced him.

"Yeah, of course I'm alive" the scientist said, after Steven released him "Wh-why wouldn't I be?"

"We saw your lab burning and there were these two guys in suits who were-"

"government agents" a hefty blond teenager interrupted, "and they were combing Beach City in an attempt to silence me and bury the truth."

Rick's brow rose and said, "Ok and you are…?"

"Ronaldo Fryman, seeker of truth!" declared Ronaldo theatrically, "perhaps you recognize my work from my blog, _Keep Beach City Weird._ "

The scientist snorted, "Sorry but I don't read crap and…" he stopped, his attention focused on something behind Steven.

Steven followed Rick's gaze and noticed that he was staring at Tessa. Tessa was staring at Rick as well.

Rick waved a hand and greeted her with a casual "Oh hey Tess". Tessa looked bewildered but she managed to reply with "Hey…Rick."

Steven frowned "You two know each other?"

"You could say that," said Rick, fishing his flask out of his coat pocket. "Yeah we-we met some time ago," said Tessa.

The two fell silent, not wanting to discuss the matter of Rick taking her hostage and the gruesome deaths of a bunch of alien bounty hunters.

"So… you guys are friends?" Steven guessed.

Rick shrugged "Yeah, sure, why not. Now, are we done catching up on each other's friend history? 'Cause we got a serious problem to deal with."

Steven nodded, his expression growing serious. The three followed Rick to his car but the scientist then remembered that he loaned his car to Grom, who was busy repairing the lab. With no other options, Rick simply smashed the window of a nearby car and hotwired it. Steven, Tessa and Ronaldo objected but Rick reminded them of the immediacy of the danger and even offered to return the car when they were done. Eventually, everyone piled in and they drove off in pursuit of the creature.

As Rick drove, he explained what was going on. "This monster is a Divorian Devouring Beast, re-really bad guys. Genetically engineered foot soldiers created by some alien empire that couldn't control them and ended up being eaten by them. Ironic huh?"

"How can it be a beast when it was so little and cute?" Steven asked from the back seat.

"They start out cuuu*urp*te and harmless, but then they start to eat, then-then they get freaking huge and dangerous. They-they're like the Blob or the Thing from _the Thing,_ except it doesn't shape shift, fortunately _."_

"S-so how do we stop it?" Tessa asked, sitting shotgun.

Rick shrugged, "We-we have to kill it."

"No" said Steven, firmly.

Rick scowled at Steven through the rearview mirror "Why not?"

"He's a living creature, we can't just kill him. He's probably scared and doesn't mean to hurt anyone."

"Steven now is not the time for one of your 'save the whales' speech. The Divorian beast will eat everything, and I mean everything. These bastards they can eat not only living creatures but also they eat raw materials to augment their biomass and become harder to kill. Do you know the worst part about being eaten by this-this blob of artificially engineered goo? The worst part is that if a Divorian eats you, you'll just be digested slowly and painfully for months, even years while your consciousness is still intact until you get turned into a puddle of shit or merged into its biomass, forever trapped in a hellish existence being one with a blob of mutated gooey flesh."

"It-its crazy I know, but seriously these-these guys are like an infestation of newborn babies or-or teenagers if they're not stopped: Th-they're dumb as hell, they eat anything and everything, they piss and shit everywhere and they're a massive pain in the ass."

Steven frowned. That didn't sound good, but he still didn't want to kill that creature. There has to be another way.

Steven crossed his arms and shook his head "We have to stop him, but we can't kill him."

Rick groaned loudly then sighed, "Fine. We'll _try_ to capture him, but that will be a hell of a lot harder than killing him."

"We can do it, I know we can" Steven said, optimistically "We can get the gems to help out too"

"I don't think that's a good idea kid" Rick said, quickly "Divorians eat gemstones also. They-they love to eat those the most, to them the-they're like doughnuts powdered with cocaine or something. Fortunately for us, Divorians only eat gemstones once every solstice. Specific, I know, but hey life is full of these little quirks. Besides, w-we can take care of this ourselves and I don't want to risk the gems getting hurt."

The half-gem's eyes widened in shock and went quiet.

Rick was thankful that the boy dropped it. He didn't want to get the gems involved that much was true. They mustn't know about the creature or engage it, so a small lie shouldn't hurt.

Ronaldo poked his head in between the front seats and spoke up, holding his currently recording smartphone up like a microphone "Question: How can we find this beast? I mean we should spot it instantly because of its size and destruction but so far I'm not getting any updates on any monster attacks"

"The paranoid dweeb is right" Tessa joined in, "A monster that big should be easy to spot and should be causing a lot of panic, but its very quiet right now. It's like it disappeared or it became invisible."

"Hey! I'm not paranoid" Ronaldo protested.

"That's what I'm wondering" Rick murmured, ignoring the offended blogger. Tessa's right. As it eats, Divorians get bigger and meaner and right now this creature should be huge, based on what Rick had seen during its attack on the bar. However, there doesn't seem to be any further indications of its rampage. It was as if it vanished, like Tessa suggested. Rick knew better. Divorians can do a lot of things but they can't disappear, unless it's mutating due to Rick's meddling with its genes to make it stronger.

If the mutation was giving the creature new abilities, would that mean that its habits and instincts are warped as well?

The scientist thought about this for a few moments then his eyes widened with realization.

"Shit" he breathed.

"What?" Tessa asked.

Rick glanced back at Steven through the rearview mirror "Are there any high points in Beach City? Somewhere that's highly elevated and close to the sea?"

"Umm, no" Steven answered, sounding unsure "I don't think so…unless you count the lighthouse. It's pretty high up and close to the sea. Why?"

"Because this creature is-is growing fast and its, uh, biology is accelerating, mutating to the point where it will make a nest, spawn a legion of doughy little bastards and eat everyone, including gemstones!"

The young boy gasped. Ronaldo turned pale "The lighthouse…if the government sees the creature there, they'll stumble upon my headquarters and my research!"

"Nobody gives a shit," grunted Rick. The scientist spun the car around and then slammed on the gas. As the car gained speed, Rick barked some orders to Grom into his watch communicator. He glanced over to Tessa and frowned. "You want me to drop you off somewhere?"

Surprisingly, the veterinarian rejected his offer. "Wh-why? We-we could all get slaughtered. Besides this is more my problem than yours"

"True" Tessa replied, looking a little green "but I don't want Steven to get hurt, which is why I will try and keep Steven safe, even in a dangerous situation like this or…" she fell silent. _Or like the one when we met_ Rick finished for her in his mind.

The scientist was rather careless about safety, his and others. Even after the constant shenanigans he got in and the warnings from the Gems and from every other responsible person in every universe, Rick didn't care and just slipped into the routine of danger and mayhem without much effort. Most of the time it wasn't even his fault. Glancing sideways, Rick considering pushing her out of the car but something stopped him. Rick just chalked it up to wanting to keep Tessa around as a meat shield. Either that, or he was growing soft.

Rick gripped the wheel tightly and hoped that they can reach the lighthouse on time and before the gems notice the monstrosity.

* * *

Greg Universe shifted in his seat, trying his best to get more comfortable. Once he was in a more comfortable position, the retired musician sighed, satisfied.

After a slow morning at the car wash, Greg decided to take some time off to get some lunch and see his son, but when he got there, Pearl told him that Steven had already gone. With nothing else to do for the rest of the afternoon, Greg decided to get some sun and relax. He set up a lawn chair and kicked back, listening to the melody of the crashing waves and feeling the warmth of the sun on his skin.

The warmth of sunlight was, without warning, interrupted by a long, dark shadow.

Greg opened his eyes and ended up looking up at Mayor Dewey and two intimidating looking men in suits.

The shirtless carwash owner smiled meekly "He-hey! Mayor Dewey, how's it going?"

"Splendid!" replied the perpetually sweating politician, "I just happened to be in the neighborhood with these upstanding gentlemen from the federal government-" he gestured to the two men in suits who flanked him "-and when they asked about that remarkable cliff side carving, I thought who better to ask than the residents who lived in its shadow the longest. I mean, we have already spoken with a few people from town hall and the historical society and they were forthcoming with information but these wonderful gentlemen wished to receive a personal tour of the structure."

Mayor Dewey gave Greg a forced friendly smile that looked even more forced than usual.

The former musician frowned a little then said "Oh…ok. I can show you around, since the Crystal Gems are busy I can show you around."

One of the agents, the blond one, cocked an eyebrow, and asked in an emotionless voice "The Crystal Gems?"

"The guardians-er-relatives of his son, Steven" Dewey answered, quickly "They live at that house under that carving. There are three of them, Garnet, Amethyst, and Pearl." The last name emerged from the mayor's lips sounding like the wistful sigh of a love-struck teenager, which earned him some strange looks from Greg and the two men in suits. The mayor averted his eyes and whistled nonchalantly.

After a brief silence, the blond man spoke again "Interesting names. Were they a band or something?"

"Kinda," Greg said, "They did some backup singing and stuff when I played a concert here."

"You were a musician?" the dark haired man asked.

Greg nodded "Yeah, I was called Mr. Universe."

The dark haired man scratched his chin and looked Greg up and down for a moment then realization appeared on his face.

"So that's why you look familiar" said the man "I think I heard one of your songs a while ago. I think our department's director had one of your cd's and played it during our annual picnic a few years ago."

"Yeah, I thought it was pretty good," said the blond agent.

Greg smiled "Gee, thanks. Its always nice to meet some fans…what little of those I have. I only played a few shows and the last one was here in Beach City with like…three people."

The three talked a little bit more about various topics like music and current events. Eventually, the conversation drifted towards the temple and Steven's home. Greg led the three towards the house, completely unaware of the danger that was drawing near.

* * *

Above them, approaching the lighthouse, the doughy alien was now the size of a small house. The creature had assumed the form of a shapeless blob of roiling matter in order to escape notice and duck into the sewers. After some wrong turns in the sewers, the blobby creature found its way to a manhole cover closest to the lighthouse on the cliff.

Fortunately, the steep climb to the lighthouse was clear and the creature's jailer was nowhere in sight.

The creature reassumed its bipedal shape and began to climb. After consuming enough organic and inorganic material, the Divorian was now ready to begin digesting and begin to create more of its kind. The blobby creature had very few thoughts inhabiting its lumpy head other than some basic self-preservation and hunting instincts.

However, lately, it did manage to form some rather intelligent thoughts of its own, which made it smarter than its genetically engineered brethren.

One of those higher thoughts was that of revenge.

The big lump of goo harbored deep undying anger towards the bad man, the one who kept it locked up in a tiny box and made it suffer blinding pain for hours on end. Now that it was free, the Divorian was going to exact revenge by doing as it was engineered to do: multiply and consume everything on this planet.

The thought of seeing the man being devoured gave the alien a small sense of joy.

That joy didn't last long, however, as a saucer shaped vehicle arose from behind the lighthouse and it was piloted by a familiar green mechanoid.

* * *

Greg sat with his clasped together, resting in his lap. The silence was awkward and palpable and only grew worse as they sat there. The carwash owner sat there on the couch, between Pearl and Garnet while Mayor Dewy, Agent Finch and Agent Winters sat across from them on floor.

Amethyst was perched on the kitchen counter, eyes darting back and forth between the two groups, waiting to see what happens. When Greg and the others showed up at the door, Pearl was ready to remind Greg that Steven wasn't there and that they were busy with important gem related business, but when Greg mentioned that the two men in suits were with the government, the pale gem went silent and looked like she had a heart attack.

Pearl invited them in but remained silent and looked unnerved by their presence.

After sitting in uncomfortable silence for a good few minutes, Agent Finch spoke up. "So…you're the crystal gems?" asked the blond man.

Pearl nodded quickly, sputtering, "Uh-um-yes…yes we are".

The agent nodded "Interesting name. You three live here together?" Garnet nodded silently.

Silence followed for a few moments, until Pearl spoke up. "Sooooo…what brings you two out to Beach City?" Pearl inquired, trying to change the subject.

Agent Winters answered in monotone, "We're searching for a person of interest in an ongoing investigation."

"Person of interest?" echoed Amethyst.

The dark haired agent nodded "We have received reports of strange things happening in this area: reports of a 'spacecraft' in broad daylight, a strange green light in the sky at night and just recently a hostage situation involving 'alien creatures'. Normally these occurrences would be considered as nothing more than a hoax and dismissed. However, due to the frequency of the events, the concentration of the events to this county alone and the involvement of local law enforcement in the last event alone raised a few eyebrows."

"All reports vary in terms of detail and authenticity" Finch added, "however, we have noticed that there is constant mention of a person or persons involved in each of these incidences. We have been dispatched to investigate and verify."

Pearl frowned while Garnet absorbed the information in silence. Amethyst shifted uncomfortably on the counter.

"Alien investigations? That doesn't sound like typical FBI work," Greg remarked.

Agent Finch shrugged "Normally, it isn't. The whole alien thing is just to make sure that these claims aren't connected to a real crime or a terrorist plot. In reality, they're just cranks."

Winters nodded "Indeed. I'm not much of a believer of aliens but I do believe that there is a potential danger here in Beach City. After reports of a hostage situation happening close by, we are concerned of escalation."

"No need to worry about that!" Mayor Dewey chimed "Crime is hardly a problem here in Beach City."

"Yeah" agreed Greg "Beach City is a quiet little town, hardly anything bad happens here."

As soon as the words left Greg's mouth, there was a distant, animalistic roar, followed by what sounded like a crash.

Agent Finch frowned "What was that?"

Mayor Dewey shrugged, even more sweat dripped down his face than usual.

The government agents rose to go investigate but Pearl jumped to her feet. "Wait!" the skinny gem cried.

The two paused and gave her odd looks. Thinking quickly, Pearl asked the agents to divulge a little more of their case, saying that she may know about what they may be looking for. The two agents hesitated for a moment then decided to stay.

Pearl shot Amethyst a look that told her to investigate the noise. The purple gem nodded.

While Pearl and Garnet directed the two agents attention away from their friend, Greg watched as Amethyst use the warp pad to teleport out.

After the warp pad teleported Amethyst away, Greg noticed Agent Finch glance sideways towards the warp pad, suspicion entering his features briefly. His eyes flicked back to Pearl and Garnet without anyone noticing, except Greg.

The retired musician felt sweat forming on his brow. He didn't know what was more frightening, the source of the roar or the government agents discovering the truth of the crystal gems.

* * *

High up above them, Steven, Rick and the others were doing their best at not getting killed by the doughy alien.

Grom had reached the lighthouse first and had engaged it. Rick and company arrived moments after.

When everyone was out of the car, Rick ramming the car in the creature's gut. The alien's doughy body absorbed the impact and it started tearing apart the car with its massive hands. While the alien was distracted, Grom unleashed a barrage of plasma shots to the creature's head.

The gooey matter was torn and burnt but had regenerated within seconds.

Tessa blanched. "Oh boy…" the veterinarian breathed, surprised "This isn't going to be easy is it?"

"Nope" grunted Rick. He opened the trunk of his flying car and started rooting around through the clutter in search of something. A loud explosion rocked the ground beneath them. Rick poked his head out from inside the trunk and bellowed at Grom. "Hey, asswipe, try not to nuke the entire cliff off the map, ok? Use lower yield weapons."

Grom, who was standing a few feet away with his arm cannon still smoking, nodded and dodged an attack from the alien's newly formed arm.

Steven, hovering behind Rick as he rifled through his trunk, quirked an eyebrow "Lower yield?"

"Weapons with less of a kick" Rick explained, "Grom's got serious firepower, but since we're trying to stop this thing and not kill it, we're going to need lighter weapons or else the blow back will kill us and maybe the Divorian. Ok maybe not the Divorian 'cause it's more than likely going to kill us though."

Steven nodded, understanding. He watched in amazement as Grom continued to battle the gooey alien. The young looking mechanical man dodged the alien's swipes with ease as he circled around his foe and peppering him with a barrage of shots. The Divorian seemed more annoyed than angered by Grom's attacks. The alien gooey mass jiggled as it tore the lighthouse's front door off the hinges then chucked it at the mechanoid. Grom blasted the door into a billion pieces.

Steven cheered, while Tessa remained cautiously optimistic.

As the battle continued to rage Ronaldo grew more anxious about his research stashed in the lighthouse. He had to get in there and grab what he can and destroy the rest before anyone sees the battle come looking. Patiently waiting, Ronaldo saw an opening and decided to make a run for it. Tessa yelled at him to stop but Ronaldo didn't seem to hear her. The blogger only hastened towards the lighthouse.

Not really thinking, Tessa gave chase, followed closely by Steven. Rick saw them go and swore loudly. He slammed his trunk shut and gave chase, hoping that what few weapons he procured would be enough. Grom must've noticed the group's mad dash for the lighthouse, because the mechanoid kept the Divorian's focus away from the lighthouse and the group of humans.

* * *

Inside the old building, Rick, Tessa and Steven found Ronaldo stuffing papers in his pockets and destroying whatever he could grab hold of. For a headquarters, the lighthouse was just about what most could expect from a lone teenaged blogger.

The spacious circular room was old and dusty. A soft smell of sea salt and rust permeated the air. There were a few old pieces furniture were scattered about but nothing else. Neither Rick nor Tessa seemed to care but Steven was a little disappointed.

Based off of Ronaldo's constant self-declaration of being a seeker of truth and a hard-hitting reporter, Steven had imagined something more substantial like more equipment or something. However, the reality seemed a little bleaker.

Ronaldo was focused on a bulletin board on the other side of the room, blanketed entirely with news clippings and photos. Muffled sounds of combat could be heard outside.

"Don't just stand there, help me!" shouted Ronaldo, glancing back at his three companions.

"We don't have time for this!" Tessa shouted back "We have to go, it's not safe here!"

A loud crash resounded inside the lighthouse and a burst of dust and debris tumbled into the makeshift headquarters. The dust faded and revealed a calm faced Grom. The young mechanical man sat up and was about to launch himself back into battle but a wave of pale-grey goo surged through the breach and swallow up the mechanoid. The wave of goo vanished, along with Grom and rejoined the main body of the Divorian, which rolled its way into the lighthouse.

Ronaldo cried out in horror and retreated up the spiraling staircase to the top of the lighthouse.

Rick scowled "Times up." He cocked his futuristic rifle and took aim at the incoming alien. The scientist fired off a few shots, all of them hitting their mark but the wave of surging sludge continued to pour in.

Rick cursed and retreated up the stairs, still firing at the alien mass. Steven moved to follow but was cut off by the writhing mass of goo. His heart jumped into the back of his throat and expected to be swallowed up instantly but he saw Tessa threw herself in front of him. She attempted to shield him from the creature with her body.

"No!" cried Steven as the creature lunged at them. The veterinarian and Steven squeezed their eyes shut, expecting pain and suffocation.

After a few long moments, Steven heard and felt nothing happen.

Instead, he heard a sloshing sound. When he opened his eyes, the half-gem saw that the gooey alien had retreated and took on a more solid, humanoid form. Standing almost as tall as the lighthouse itself, though it slumped over to fit inside. The towering alien remained silent and still, staring down at the two with empty eye sockets.

Neither Steven nor Tessa moved. Both were absolutely petrified and unable to do anything. The creature's legs bubbled and melted, lowering the massive creature down a little. The alien stooped down until it was almost nose-to-nose with Tessa.

The veterinarian turned deathly pale, sweat dripping down her face. A tense silence enshrouded them for a few, agonizing seconds. The creature sniffed the raven-haired woman like a curious puppy then, strangely, a wide smile appeared on its featureless face. Steven's eyebrows shot up in surprise as the Divorian drew back and settled down into a sitting position, still smiling.

The two remained still, waiting to see if this were a trick. The Divorian scooped up nearby debris and some of Ronaldo's furniture by the armful and absorbed them. The creature looked their way once but didn't seem to pay them heed.

Seizing the opportunity, Tessa told Steven to follow her in a soft voice and the two moved closer towards the stairs but stopped dead when they saw the Divorian stop consuming debris. They took another step towards the stairs but froze when the gooey creature grow more alert of their deliberate withdrawal.

Feeling panic rising, Tessa told Steven to run. The half-gem hesitated for a moment but complied. The two raced up the stairs but the gooey alien rose up through the spaces between steps and blocked off their path. Steven and Tessa retreated back down the stairs. The alien did like wise and started to encircle them.

Steven threw up a bubble around the two of them to protect them. The Divorian continued circling them like shark with its full attention locked on them.

Up above, Rick twisted a dial on the rifle he was carrying and fired a few shots down on the creature. The energy bursts sheared through the gooey mass but the scorched parts regenerated. The creature looked up at Rick, fury dominated its expression.

Before he could react, the alien ripped the rifle from Rick's grasp with a long gooey tendril. The scientist managed to side step to safety as a wad of pale-grey sludge came hurtling at him and wound up striking Ronaldo and plastering him to the ceiling.

Rick ducked back and began formulating a new strategy as the alien returned his attention to Steven and Tessa, its head swayed like a cobra.

Steven and Tessa rolled the bubble sideways and back in an attempt to escape but the creature's gaze always followed.

"What do we do?" wondered Tessa, panic rising in her voice "No matter what, that…thing is always watching."

"He can catch us no matter what" said Steven "but why doesn't he just eat us?"

Tessa frowned. Steven raised a good point. The blobby alien ate everything, including the green guy and Ronaldo's furniture without a second thought, but why is it keeping them cornered? Why not just eat them already? Is it just playing with them before eating?

"Maybe he doesn't want to hurt us" suggested Steven, optimistic.

"Maybe" said Tessa, not convinced.

The Divorian frowned then drew away from the two and made some hand motions. The two stared at the creature questioningly as it mimed something with its hands. After a few minutes of watching the creature repeating the same gestures over and over, Steven understood what the alien was getting at.

"I think he's saying that he isn't going to hurt us," said Steven.

"I-I think so" agreed Tessa.

Despite her fears and doubt, Tessa felt that the creature was being truthful. If the alien were to devour them, it would've done so already, bubble or not. Steven dropped his bubble and the two saw the creature become noticeably happy. It moved to approach them but the two took a step back. The Divorian stopped, looking confused for a second then realization dawned on its face. Reaching out with one hand, the alien pointed at Tessa.

The two frowned in confusion as to what the creature meant but before they could ponder what it meant, there was a series of strange sounds coming from the creature. The alien's mouth formed odd shapes and emitted strange sounds. The creature tried again, its face contorted with effort as it tried form words, "Mmm…mm…mma…ma…mma…" A few more attempts later, the creature spat out a word in a deep, gravelly voice: "Mama".

A strange silence filled the lighthouse. Tessa's eyes popped open in surprise Steven looked perplexed. The creature looked pleased with itself, then pointed at Tessa saying, "Mama…" The veterinarian looked dumbfounded.

"Wait, that thing thinks that she's his mother?" said Ronaldo in a loud voice above them, trying to make sense of what's going on.

"I think so," said Steven, slowly.

Steven was just as confused as Ronaldo and Tessa but when he thought about it, the half gem could see an explanation forming. He remembered Rick calling Divorians an infestation of newborn babies and also remembered how the creature took a shine to the veterinarian, especially when she was caring for him. Steven then had a thought, which turned into an idea that could probably resolve this without violence.

Before Steven could tell Tessa his idea, Rick dropped in, literally. From high above, the scientist landed on the Divorian's head and shoved a handful of metal egg like devices into its sludgy skull.

The scientist jumped away just as the Divorian became encased in ice. Rick stood triumphant and looked upon the frozen creature.

"How you like me now bitch!" crowed the mad scientist. His victory didn't last long.

The ice began to crackle and crack until it exploded into a shower of glittering flakes. Steven saw a futuristic cannon sticking out of the creature's arm, completely fused to the alien's flesh. It was Rick's gun.

Rick scowled, muttering "Ok, plan b." He wiped out his portal gun and tried to use it but the creature snatched up the scientist and held him up to its face.

The scientist's eyes widened, "Oh boy…".

As the gooey alien wrestled with Rick, who was trying to cut his way free with a machete, Steven glanced sideways to Tessa and told her his theory. After about a moment, she nodded, accepting it.

"Makes about as much sense as everything else I've seen today," whispered Tessa "I mean Rick did say that this creature was made into a weapon. It-er-he probably hasn't experienced compassion in his entire life and probably imprinted on me like a baby duck looking for a mom."

"Sounds about right."

The veterinarian heaved a nervous sigh, "N-now what?"

"Now, we try and calm him down and have Rick return him to normal" answered Steven, sounding a little too optimistic.

Tessa frowned "I…I don't think I can. I mean…I don't know how. This thing is an alien bio weapon with mommy issues and I'm not a parent. I mean, I babysat my cousins and brothers a long time ago but this is different. Besides, I'm awful with kids."

"That's not true," said Steven, offering a warm smile.

Tessa looked at him and a small smile began to form "Oh…right. Thanks. Either way, how am I going to calm him down?"

The answer came when a sludge covered green fist emerged from the Divorian's gut. The alien and Rick looked down and saw Grom claw his way free, using a slimed item like a rock climber uses a climbing axe.

Partially freed, the mechanoid chucked the item at Tessa's feet, declaring bombastically "Through the power of rock!" He threw up the heavy metal horns then continued to free himself. The veterinarian knelt down and wiped away the thick layers of muck to reveal a well-preserved acoustic guitar.

Tessa looked up at the mechanoid "How did you hear us? In fact, where did this guitar come from?"

"Plot convenience!" grunted Rick, as he struggled to not get swallowed up by his foe, "H-honestly, this fic is getting more clichéd by the chapter. Honestly dude, music? Th-that's the best you got? Seriously, who wants to read this stuff? What's next, another random alien threat with a crappy name and forgetting about the foreshadowed threat teased since the first chapter again?"

Before Tessa and Steven could ask what he meant, Rick stopped ranting then snapped at the veterinarian "Play damn it!"

Tessa flinched a little and quickly picked up the guitar. Her hands trembled and her expression betrayed her fear of failure. Steven patted her on the arm. She glanced at him and saw confidence on his face. He flashed her a thumbs up.

With no other choice, the veterinarian started to play.

The music started soft but then grew louder and louder, then Tessa began to sing. " _5, 4, 3, 2, 1…5, 4, 3, 2, 1…He holds the gun…against my head…I close my eyes…"_

The veterinarian's voice was soft but clear enough to hear. Steven was surprised at how well she sang and played. The half-gem then realized that he wasn't the only one to have noticed this. The Divorian stopped and turned his attention towards Tessa. All rage melted away from his features.

As the song continued on, the alien slowly began to sway. Rick was still trapped in his grip but the music soothed the alien enough for his grip to slacken a little.

The scientist nodded to Grom. The mechanoid freed a hand and summoned an energy cannon. With a single blast, Rick was freed. With a little more effort, the mechanoid was freed as well. The two put some distance between them and the gooey alien.

Portal gun in hand, Rick began adjusting the dials and knobs. The scientist wanted so much to kill the Divorian but he didn't have the time nor the proper equipment to deal with this puddle of shit. Hearing Tessa nearing the end of the song, Rick decided to enact a new plan. It would be humane as Steven wanted but it would have just the right amount of cruelty befitting a pissed off, vengeful Rick.

" _5, 4, 3, 2, 1… 5, 4, 3, 2, 1…"_ sang Tessa, her voice and instrument growing soft, until silence.

The veterinarian looked up and saw that the Divorian was standing still and looked at peace or perhaps he was asleep. It was difficult, considering had only eye sockets. Tessa set aside the guitar and cautiously approached the docile creature. His head moved, noticing her. He started to reach out to her with a partially reformed arm. Tessa gave him a friendly smile. Maybe Steven was right, maybe this creature wasn't a monster.

Before she could give more thought to the creature and their current predicament, a pool of green light appeared beneath the Divorian's feet.

The veterinarian jumped back, shocked. The alien let out a confused sound just as the pool of green light swallowed him whole.

In the creature's place, Rick stood there looking triumphant, dirty and very tired, portal gun in hand. A brief, empty silence passed.

Some footsteps could be heard outside and Steven saw Amethyst rush in but stopped the sight of a lighthouse spattered by grey sludge, three goo covered humans and Ronaldo plastered on the ceiling in a cocoon of goo.

"Whoa, what happened here?" Amethyst asked, amazed.

"Nothing, just…stuff" Rick sighed. He holstered his gun and turned to Tessa "Wanna get a drink? Ma-maaay*urp*be some pizza or something?"

Tessa stared at the scientist for a moment, not really sure what just happened or what she was feeling, but eventually the veterinarian shrugged "Sure".

* * *

Rick leaned back into the couch and sighed, pleased that he could finally kick his feet up. His body ached all over and he was still covered in sticky Divorian goo but he didn't care. Everything was at right with the world, for once.

Night had fallen and everything seemed to be going good.

When Amethyst and the four messy humans arrived at Steven's home, Greg and the others were relieved to see them but seemed worried about something.

Pearl, Amethyst, Garnet and Greg sat patiently and listened to Steven and Ronaldo's accounts of the whole ordeal.

Ronaldo exaggerated a lot, portraying himself as a gallant hero and the leader who spearheaded everything, which the two knew was false. Steven's account was more on the nose, though he omitted the creature's origins and Rick simply told them that it was just some hostile alien wanting to take over the earth or something and that he banished it to a barren frozen wasteland.

Rick got a couple of cold bottles of beer from the fridge and shared them with Tessa and Greg.

Tessa thanked the scientist and then went outside to have her drink because she didn't want to muddy up Steven's home. Greg was surprised to see her when they arrived and thanked her for her help with his son and for helping him out a few days prior.

Seeing her alone outside, occasionally joining the conversation through the opened screen door, Greg decided to keep her company. The two were already in deep conversation and didn't show any signs of stopping.

On the topic of Tessa, the gems were a little suspicious of the woman, especially after their brush with the two men in suits, but after hearing how the veterinarian risked her life to keep Steven safe, their worries eased a little. After explanations were done, Pearl told Steven to clean himself off and that they'll be having dinner soon.

Rick was pulled from his reverie when he saw Pearl sit down next to him.

The scientist sighed, "Alright, lets have it."

"What?" asked Pearl

"You know, you-you're daily soapbox about how I should keep Steven out of trouble and how I am a bad influence, yadda, yadda."

The gem frowned "Why would I do that?"

"Cause that's what you do, you nag."

Pearl snorted, "Oh please, I don't just nag."

"Really, then why are you suddenly gracing me with your presence oh great one?"

"I'm here because I just wanted to say…thank you."

Rick's brow rose "Really?"

The pale gem nodded "Yes, really. A monster attacked and you kept Steven safe. That means a lot to me. Besides, this whole monster affair wasn't your fault…this time."

"Yeah, right" said Rick, trying hard not look suspicious.

"But try not to get used to this," warned Pearl, lightly "I still think that you're a lazy slob who smells awful."

Rick chuckled "Geez, I guess Amethyst was right about you being unable to compliment me without criticizing me."

Pearl scowled "She said what?"

Before Rick could answer, Ronaldo interrupted. The blogger decided to leave and share some of the juicy details of today's escapades on his blog. He thanked everyone for an action packed day and left.

Once Ronaldo departed, Pearl panicked. She worried about the government seeing it but Rick assured her that everything was going to be fine. He held up a small device in his hand and clicked a button. There was a brilliant flash of light outside that lasted for a brief moment.

Pearl frowned at Rick and asked him what that was. Rick shrugged and told her "I deleted all the crap off of his phone and lets just say that I gave him a little _Memento_ of today's adventure." Rick grinned at the reference he made but Pearl was clueless about it.

Pearl got up and left.

As he drank, Rick's eyes flicked over to the window. Greg and Tessa were still locked in their conversation and have been going for a while now. The scientist didn't care but he was noticing some interesting developments. The retired musician's eyes never left Tessa's and there were some beads of sweat forming on his brow. That could easily be nothing but the scientist caught pieces of the conversation.

"Sorry for showing up like this" apologized Tessa, looking down at her sludge stained uniform "I don't usually look like I just swam through a sewer."

Greg smiled "That's alright. I mean, I've looked worse and seen even worse."

"Really?" said Tessa, cocking an eyebrow

"Yeah, there was this time when I was in Ocean Town…"

Rick held the pair in his vision and as the story wrapped up, Tessa gave the musician a warm, honest laugh. Greg's cheeks gained a shade of red and his smile widened.

The scientist's brow rose. This will be interesting. Rick's mind then focused on a more pressing matter: the two men in suits who showed up that day. From Greg, Pearl and Garnet's descriptions, they were your stereotypical government agents. That would mean Rick's hypothesis was right. The government, or some secret group pretending to be from the government, were snooping around and seemed to be looking for him.

Pearl and Greg were worried. Garnet seemed very unsettled, having muttered something about silver eyes. But Rick wasn't worried. The mad scientist didn't worry in the least. A situation like this is why he had Grom.

* * *

The night grew older and the house went dark and quiet.

Tessa and Greg had long since departed, Rick, after cleaning himself off, was lying passed out on the couch.

The gems were in their rooms and Steven was asleep on his bed, until he heard a soft thud. Wiping the sleep from his eyes, the half-gem looked about the darkened house. Nothing looked out of place, though the young boy could've sworn he heard footsteps descending the stairs outside.

After a quick look outside and in the living room, Steven decided to go back to bed, until he paused and saw something gleam in the corner of his vision.

He turned and saw it. Sitting atop his TV, gleaming in the soft half moonlight, there was a mirror.

Picking it up, the mirror felt a little heavier than Steven expected. Framed in an ornate a silver-blue metal, a round piece of bluish glass with a faint contour of an octagonal shape etched into it surface, showed his reflection.

On the back, Steven saw a large, cracked blue gem.

The half gem never saw this mirror before and he was certain that it wasn't on his TV moments ago. It made him feel a little afraid but it also piqued his curiosity. He'll have to look into it more in the morning.

As Steven went to bed, he failed to see a trail of footprints being made, one foot at a time, by nobody, leading away from the house.

* * *

A deep pain greeted Agent Winters when he awoke. The world around him seemed to spin. Squeezing his eyes shut and forcing himself not to vomit, Agent Winters waited a moment for the disorientation to settle a little. Feeling confident that he wouldn't vomit or tip over, Winters opened his eyes.

The suited man found that he was propped up against a tree, surrounded by other trees and curtains of leaves. Confused, Agent Winters tried to rise but the spinning sensation returned and he fell back down. The cool evening air made his lungs burn and the cuts all over his body sting.

Something warm slithered down his brow then his cheek. The agent reached up and felt that the warm something was also wet.

 _Blood_ concluded Winters, grimly.

Up above, stars shimmered on uncaring of what was happening beneath them. The last thing Winters remembered was that he and his partner were leaving Beach City and were heading back to HQ. Both had agreed that Beach City was worth a more thorough investigation.

The two had forwarded a lot of their findings but their last encounter with the Mayor and Greg Universe was going to be included in the final report when they report to the Director.

Agent Winters focused some more on the memory of what they were doing last. The two were talking about something sports related then…a hole appeared in the windshield and a splash of red. The agent remembered the world being flipped upside down and then blackness. Anger filled the sore agent. Despite all their training and all their experience, they lowered their guard and now Finch was dead and Winters was wounded and probably being held for questioning by their attacker.

A short distance ahead, the bushes rustled and a silhouette emerged. Winters squared his shoulders and mustered whatever courage and strength he had left in him. The silhouette drew closer and when he was inches away, the shadows fell away and Winters was facing a green teenager who's features had a metallic sheen.

 _An android or maybe a shoddily made synth,_ pondered the bloodied agent.

The metallic teenager knelt down and looked into Winters eyes with a pair of orange orbs.

"Are you hurt?" asked the machine. Agent Winters shrugged "Yeah but I've had worse." He looked about him and asked, "Where's my partner?"

"Dead" the droid answered bluntly.

Winters sighed. He figured but there was always a chance that he was alive. Death was part of the job and the bloodied agent had seen his fair share. The agent glanced at the green android "So…are we going to do this? You gonna question me and such?"

"Under normal circumstances, yes. However I have been instructed not to question you, torture or kill you." That made Winters blink. No questioning, no killing and the droid's taking orders from someone else? This case was getting more puzzling by the minute. "So what are you going to do to me?"

The droid held up a hand, which clicked and shifted into a futuristic looking syringe.

Winters expected the droid to say something but he didn't.

The droid was mute and his face betrayed no emotion, which unsettled the seasoned agent the most.

End of Chapter

* * *

 **(a/n: So, what do you think? Sorry for the long wait. A long wait deserves a long chapter. This chapter is based off of 'Keep Beach City Weird' but i changed the timeline a little bit. I'm uploading another chapter, a short interlude, tomorrow. Or very soon.)**


	7. Interlude

**(a/n: This is a brief little interlude before the next chapter, which will be out some time in the future. Enjoy!)**

* * *

Interlude

A sleep deprived Dr. Harris was alone in the infirmary, sitting at the foot of the bed of his latest charge. His steel grey eyes were focused on the comatose man with a mixture of confusion and worry.

A night ago, the men in communications received a distress signal from the state of Delmarva, at least thirty miles outside of Beach City and a rescue team was dispatched. They returned with a wounded agent and the charred remains of his suitcase and car. The wounded man sustained some injuries but nothing that modern medicine and a skilled doctor could handle but during the whole ordeal, the agent woke up and didn't seem to remember who he was and where he was.

At first the doctor thought it was a mild concussion or disorientation. But after some brain scans, x-rays and a battery of tests, the doctor was horrified to see that the agent's brain was marinated in a strange chemical.

It was obvious that it was alien. Most of the chemicals had traces of elements that the organization had encountered in the past, though the elements were unknown and were arranged in a strange new way. After draining the chemical, Dr. Harris received only worse news.

More scans revealed that the man's brain chemistry was altered slightly and that his old memories were rendered inaccessible. There were also traces of decay around some of the more heavily affected brain tissues, which only caused more concern with Harris and his staff.

The news didn't go over well with the council when the Deputy Director alerted them of this new development. The Director was angered over the news but intrigued at the same time, intrigued enough to return very early from an important meeting in Spain.

The doctor was pulled out of his thoughts when the door to the infirmary opened. The Director stood in the doorway with the typical entourage of bodyguards and assistants. He rose and nodded to the Director, who entered the infirmary alone with a sense of purpose and urgency.

"How is he?" the Director asked in a quiet voice.

Dr. Harris sighed "Recovering."

"His memory?"

"I'm afraid Agent Winters isn't going to be Agent Winters for a very long time if at all."

The Director scowled deeply. Dr. Harris had been chief medical officer in the organization HQ for a long time and has known the Director for an equally long time, which has exposed him to the wide range of her moods but this level of anger was new to him.

The Director looked to the comatose agent lying in bed, breathing slowly. Her fingers clenched until her knuckles turned white.

She turned to Dr. Harris "Anything further to report?"

Though he was primarily a doctor, the Director trusted Harris with being her eyes and ears in this region's HQ, which helped made things more efficient and ensure that there isn't any underhanded dealings among the staff.

"Winters will recover and we have a few treatments to try and help his memory recovery" the doctor continued "Finch is still MIA, now presumed KIA. Otto and his boys went over their car."

"And?"

"And nothing, save for the gasoline used to burn the car. Anything of value has been burnt to a crisp. However, Otto did use some Guldaran tech we just acquired to piece together what caused the car's destruction and they found that the car was ambushed."

The Director's eyes narrowed "Ambushed?"

Dr. Harris nodded "A high caliber rifle of some sort, coming from a high angle and hit the driver. Probably what killed Finch."

"What of the chemicals?"

"The chemicals are a mixture of several elements found on earth, though some of the mixture is comprised of chemicals found in the Signus Nebula while a small percentage are still unknown to us. Although we drained the toxins, some of Winters brain tissue are decaying at an unnatural rate. For the time being, we've got him on a new treatment that has halted the decay...for the moment."

The Director nodded slowly, absorbing the information. She began to pace back up and down the long rows of empty beds, high heels clacking against concrete.

"Interesting," she murmured, "What of our prisoner? Has she finally settled in?"

"She's gone quiet and has refused to eat."

"Is she? Well we'll have to resort to more unpleasant methods to feed her."

Harris nodded "Right." He rattled off on everything she thought important: daily operations of the base over the last week, supply needs, personnel and various discoveries and such.

The Director nodded away, her expression thoughtful.

Harris knew that she was listening but she seemed deep in thought over something.

His colleague paused a few beds away from Harris and Winters then glanced back to him "Any headway with those samples Finch and Winters had sent back, the ones from that gas station affair."

Harris frowned a little then it came back to him. "Oh, yes…yes of course." He rubbed his tired eyes then he reached into his pocket for the paper he stashed away to read later and present it to her at their next meeting, which was supposed to be weeks away.

Harris unfolded the paper and scanned the lab report. The hair on his arms rose and his blood ran cold. "And the plot thickens" murmured the tired doctor.

The Director frowned "What?"

Harris blinked a few times and looked up at his colleague. "Its-its just the report…it." Not really finding the words to perfectly explain his shock, Harris offered the report to her.

The Director plucked the creased paper from his hand and read through it quickly. Blood analysis, forensics, dna, etc. It looked like a standard report, except what drew her eye was fingerprints.

"Well…isn't that interesting" the Director said finally, after reading the report in silence for a few minutes.

"Interesting? Pretty crazy I would say," remarked Harris.

The Director nodded "Yes, I suppose its crazy for the average person, maybe even for you old friend. But seeing your own fingerprints at a murder scene that took place days ago in a different state while you were thousands of miles away at a conference in Europe is par for the course for me."

Harris stared at the Director and an amused smile appeared on his face. The two of them had worked together and faced some crazy things but he occasionally forgot whom he was dealing with. Rikki Sanchez was no ordinary woman.

The blue-grey haired woman tucked the report away in a coat pocket. "Lets keep this in-house for now" said the Director.

Harris smiled "No need to tell me twice." His eyes drifted to Winters "What about him and that town he was investigating?"

"If my hunch is correct and it usually is," Rikki said, grimly "Then we're dealing with a dangerous new enemy. This little attack was just a display of power and a warning for us to back off. However, our new enemy has foolishly declared war on us. For now we'll watch and wait, collecting everything we need about this town. We're going to get to the bottom of this little mystery once and for all."

Harris saw determination and anger burning in his colleague's eyes and knew that she meant business. When Rikki had set her mind on something, Harris knew that it was best to stay out of the way or be mowed down.

There was a knock on the infirmary's door and Rikki's assistant poked his head in "Director Sanchez, Deputy Director Stevens is requesting your presence in observation room six."

"What is it now?" snapped Rikki, turning to the young man with cold look in her eye "Is the coffee machine broken again? If so, not my problem. Unless it is an emergency, it can wait"

The young man flinched but replied promptly "He says its urgent. He was meaning to tell you at tomorrow's briefing but he now feels that it can't wait. He said that one of the artifacts has been…activated."

Rikki's eyes narrowed then told her assistant to tell the archivist that she would be there in a moment. Once the young assistant was gone, Rikki bid Harris farewell and asked to be appraised of Winters condition.

* * *

Rikki stepped off the elevator and arrived at a pair of big, heavy doors. When the doors opened, she was greeted by a room filled with monitors.

The director stepped inside. Though it was dark, the cavernous observation room was filled with enough screens to illuminate the way towards the central platform. Sitting in the heart of the sea of monitors was a high backed chair and in that high backed chair was a small, mousy man with tired green eyes and wiry brown hair. Rikki was rather wary of the Oracle. He was loyal to the organization and had a sharp eye but Rikki always found him to be a bit...strange. Probably had something to do with being stuck watching a thousand monitors and the internet all day every day.

Standing on the Oracle's right was a middle aged man of medium build, black hair peppered with grey and wore a black suit.

The two noticed the director's arrival and greeted her.

"What is it this time?" demanded Rikki "Did that saucer thing started acting up again?" The organization possessed hundreds of artifacts and gadgets that, in one form or another, have connections to aliens or were of alien origins. Some of them start up randomly when organization engineers mess with them or when theres a power surge or a random thunderstorm.

"No, Director" said Stevens "Its that platform, the one found in the Egyptian desert."

The deputy director nodded at the Oracle, who punched in a series of commands in his holographic keyboard, bringing up footage on one of the many monitors.

The camera feed showed a teal, crystalline platform with a small set of stairs, sitting smack dab in the middle of an endless expanse of sand and rock.

"Run it back a few hours" ordered Stevens. The Oracles complied.

The footage rewound until it was evening time. The night was empty and the platform remained inactive and boring, until there was a brief flash of light.

Rikki's eyes were suddenly glued to the screen. Sitting square in the middle of the platform was a tiny emerald orb with thin little legs.

It sort of reminded the director of an overweight spider with tiny legs or a tick.

The little green orb skittered about the platform for a few moments, circling around and scanning the crystalline structure. After a few moments, the orb crawled back up the stairs and back onto the platform. With a flash of light, the orb was gone and the evening desert was back to normal.

The screen froze and the deputy director and the Oracle both looked to their superior officer for a reaction.

Rikki's face was a mask that displayed only calm and composure. Underneath that mask, the director was a feeling that she hasn't felt in a very long time.

That feeling was excitement.

In sum total, an agent lost his memory due to a cocktail of exotic chemicals that may or may not be eating his brain, Rikki's own fingerprints found at a brutal murder scene at a gas station in Delmarva and now an old platform in the Egyptian desert activated and tiny little alien device had arrived on a mission for God knows what.

Something big was going on and Rikki was going to get to the bottom of this.

A small smile appeared on the Director's face. This was going to be fun.

End of Interlude

* * *

 **(a/n: What do you think? I was going to include this on the final chapter but i felt that this would work better as a sort of in-between chapter. I also forgot to mention that the lyrics from ch. 6 were from Aurora's Murder Song. Coming up next...Mirror Gem...i think. I don't know. What do you guys think? Should i do it and if so, how do you think it would go? Let me know!)**


	8. Pt 7: Six Feet Under the Stars

**(a/n: this took a little longer than i thought but please read and enjoy!)**

* * *

Part 7: Six Feet Under the Stars

Rick sat patiently, waiting for his loyal partner to return.

After celebrating the defeat of the Divorian and wiping Ronaldo's mind of the whole affair, Rick had passed instructions to Grom to tie off the two loose ends. Afterward, the scientist decided to catch some sleep to not arouse suspicion. He heard some footsteps and concluded that Steven got up for a snack or something, just as he did for the last week or so.

After a few hours and after he was certain that the half-alien was asleep, Rick got up and went outside.

Outside was cool and the sky was filled with a million stars while the ocean was its gentle rippling reflection. Rick plopped down in one of the beach chairs sitting out on the porch. One of the great things about living in Beach City was the tranquil evenings. For a moment, the scientist felt like buying a place here and just retire, forgetting everything. However, Rick decided against it, feeling that the local population would only get on his nerves.

A long, silent hour passed until Rick spotted a familiar form marching up the dark beach.

"Well?" Rick inquired.

"It is done," reported Grom "I disposed of one and injected the other with the memory agent."

Rick nodded approvingly. The two went inside, with Grom's mission playing back on a small handheld device in Rick's hand. Seeing the mission through the mechanoid's own eyes ensured Rick that everything goes as planned and that Grom didn't have one of his little episodes. Rick nodded in admiration, watching the bullet from Grom's high caliber rifle arm put a hole in the windshield and through the driver of the car.

"N-nice shot there" Rick said softly, tapping the screen of his device.

"Is it prudent to review this footage here and now?" Grom asked, "What if the gems or Steven hear?"

Rick shrugged off his concern "Don't worry, after Steven gets up for his late night bathroom trip or snack session, he usually sleeps like a log. The gems don't sleep, but they keep to themselves in their rooms, except maybe Pearl. D-do you know what I caught her doing that night, almost a week ago? S-she watches Steven while he sleeps like-like some female Edward Cullen. Y-you got any idea how weird that is?"

"Very?"

"Very."

Rick pocketed his handheld and decided that now would probably be the only time Grom and himself are able to talk business.

"So, what do think about that…thing I told you about?" Rick asked.

Grom tilted his head "Based on your descriptions of the invisible assailant in the gas station, several different alien species, all registered by the Federation as hostile, match the description. However, after considering our circumstances, I narrowed it down to a few candidates. The primary candidate is one of the Federation's Fixers."

Rick felt his heart sink a little. "Shit," the scientist murmured, "I figured that it was one but I was hoping that I was hallucinating. Looks like I was wrong...for once. I mean, I'm hardly ever wrong."

Fixers were a small group of highly trained mercenaries that were on the Federation's payroll. They are usually in charge of rounding up runaways and escapees or killing some high profile target. Rick had only caught a glimpse of one during his time in prison. Although he never fought one, the scientist knew that a Fixer was bad news.

"Need I remind you of the success rate of the Fixers?" inquired Grom.

Rick raised a hand "N-no need. I don't need you killing my bu*urp*zz." The scientist went to the fridge and retrieved a box of doughnuts that Steven had tried to hide from him. He discovered it half empty, with only a few pastries remaining.

As he chewed on a cream filled éclair, Grom gave him a rather confused look. "Mr. Sanchez, are you not concerned about the Fixer or this organization that sent those agents?" Grom asked.

Rick licked chocolate frosting from his fingers "No. Normally I would be but I've got a plan, remember?"

"Ah, yes, the scheme" said Grom, his voice remained monotone "Your diabolical plot-."

Rick shushed him, noticing some movement in the corner of his eye. The scientist and the mechanoid looked and saw Steven shift a little in his bed, pulling his blanket closer to himself. Once they were sure that he wasn't awake, the two resumed their conversation.

"No need to worry" Rick continued, "As long as things are in place, we might be able to get out of this one and make some serious cash."

Grom's usually stoic face slowly formed a look that Rick has never seen on the mechanoid's face before: hesitance.

"Are…are you certain about this?" the mechanoid asked, "Betraying Steven and the gems, after they took us in…"

Rick's eyes narrowed in suspicion. "What are you saying?" hissed the scientist.

Grom's mouth opened and closed, his face growing even more uncertain and worried. Finding the words, Grom whispered "I…I don't think we should do this? I mean, can't we just find another way? They're our friends."

Rick looked at his mechanoid companion in shock. Where was this coming from? Mechanoids don't have emotions. They were programmed to be the perfect servant and killer. No emotions, no hesitations and no questions asked, just obedience and the occasional helpful tip. The closest thing to expressing emotion is just a program that allows them to appear more human and be sociable.

Before Rick could speak, Grom began murmuring in a strange language. The scientist stared as the mechanoid looked down at his hands, murmuring growing more frantic and nonsensical, wavering between English and some foreign language. With wide eyes, Grom began stumbling about, his frenzied murmuring growing louder and louder. Suddenly the mechanical young man let out a shrill, alien scream.

Rick jumped into action. He wrapped an arm around the mechanoid's shoulders and, after punching in a brief command on his watch, swept the legs out from under the machine. Grom's legs folded like paper and Rick gently lowered him to the floor with on hand on his back and the other clamped firmly over Grom's mouth. The mechanoid's head swiveled about, murmuring incessantly against the scientist's palm and attempting to move his disabled body. Rick fingers flew as he pried open a section of synthetic skin on the back of his companion's neck, flipping switches and hitting buttons in an attempt to reboot Grom.

The mechanoid's orange eyes darted about madly until they locked with Rick's. He started hissing something in an alien tongue. Rick scowled and felt like he was being insulted. Grom growled again, only this time in another foreign language. He continued cycling through languages, each more alien than the last. Rick tuned the mechanoid out. The scientist pressed a button and a small slot opened up on the back of Grom's head. Beneath the fake hair and the armor-plated skull, Rick found the mechanoid's brain. The brain was a complex piece of metal circuits and crystalline materials, which sat suspended within a web of wires. It normally gave off a calming blue light and an occasional green light but tonight the mechanoid's brain was giving off an ominous glow that wavered between blood red and violet.

Rick scowled, "Well…this doesn't look good." He reached in and tapped a button on the top most part of the brain. There was a click. A small, cracked crystal emerged and Rick pulled it free. The inside of Grom's head continued to glow with the pulsating glow of red and purple. The light briefly shone brighter but then it was ebbing away. Rick sighed with relief and listened as Grom's rambling slowed considerably.

The scientist frowned deeply. At first Rick thought this was one of the mechanoid's glitch episodes but after seeing the state of Grom's brain, Rick was getting a serious _Exorcist_ vibes from this. The scientist studied the crystal in his hand. It was hardly bigger than a marble but it had a soft blue-green glow. The surface had a crack in it, but despite the crack, the crystal was still a powerful energy source and data processor. It would make a nuclear reactor look like a potato, process information faster than light and cost more than a small planet. This little piece of Taydenite was useful but damn hard to replace if anything were to happen.

The scientist waited for a few moments then reinstalled the crystal and rebooted the mechanoid. Rick stepped away and drew his blaster, just in case. Seconds passed and Grom blinked. He looked up at Rick in a calm yet confused manner.

"Mr. Sanchez, what happened?" inquired the machine man "and why are you pointing a gun at me?"

"Y-you went a little crazy there for a minute, had to reboot you," Rick explained "the-the gun was insur*urp*ance." Grom blinked at him.

Rick scanned Grom's systems with his handheld. Unfortunately, there was a lot of data to sift through and would take the rest of the night to sort through manually, so Rick set it to automatically run diagnostics and highlight anything strange. The scientist decided to catch some sleep in the meantime.

After ordering Grom to sleep outside, for security reasons, Rick resumed the position he was in before he woke up and drifted off to a dreamless sleep.

* * *

Morning came and went with the afternoon approaching quickly.

Rick awoke to see Steven and Pearl were talking next to a chalkboard and a huge stack of school items. Rick got up and started making himself some scrambled eggs while watching Steven try and fail to elaborate what schools are to Pearl.

When the half-alien's explanation failed, Rick chimed in. "It's a place for learning," grunted the still drowsy scientist manning the stove "At least it's supposed to be, however all it does is lock a bunch of hormonally stressed-out monsters together and forces a bunch of underpaid, overworked instructors to raise them."

Pearl frowned "That sounds awful"

"It is" said Rick. He turned his head to Steven "N-Now I'm not against learning, I'm just saying school isn't what its cracked up to be. It sucks."

Steven nodded a little "Ok…well can you teach me?"

Rick shrugged "Sure…maybe…if I got time."

Steven smiled, and then suddenly remembered something. He went and retrieved an old, silver mirror from his bed. He showed it Pearl, who was surprised that Steven had it. She thought that she left it safely secured in her room but decided that she must've left it out on the table during one of her cleaning sprees. The thin gem explained that the mirror was an object that could show the user anything about Gem history, culture and locations.

Rick, who was scooping his finished scrambled eggs onto a plate, asked, "Can it show me todays football game?"

"No" answered Pearl

"Can it show me today's lotto numbers?"

"No"

"Can it get wifi or access the Internet?"

"No" said Pearl, becoming impatient "It can show only what it has witnessed."

Rick snorted, "Well that's useless"

The thin gem was flabbergasted "It can show Gem history and culture and you say it's useless?"

"Yep."

Pearl sniffed "I'll show you useless." She acquired the mirror from Steven and commanded it to show her the Galaxy Warp.

Nothing happened. Pearl repeated her command and got the same result.

Rick smirked "Looks pretty useless to me." He tilted his head and nodded to the large cracked blue gem on the back "Probably because of that. Is it supposed to be like that? I-I mean is that supposed to be its power source or something?"

Pearl turned the mirror over in her hand and saw the damage. "Oh dear…" she murmured, "This must've happened centuries ago."

Rick finished chewing his breakfast and suggested, "Maybe some super glue can work, that stuff is like magic."

"No, that's ok. The mirror was already in pretty rough shape when we found it. Must finally be broken. What a shame."

"It doesn't seem broken to me" said Steven, who peered into the faint blue glass of the mirror.

Pearl shrugged "Oh well, that seems to be the end of our school."

"And nothing of value was lost" murmured Rick.

Steven's expression brightened "So…you could say school's out for summer?"

"Yes, I suppose you could say that," said Pearl, distracted.

Steven bolted out the door, nearly bumping into Grom, cheering about school being out for the summer. Grom looked like usual self, though Rick was a little wary of the mechanoid and kept his minion in his sights.

With Steven gone, Pearl was mostly focused on the mound of school junk that sat square in the middle of the house.

The thin gem frowned "You know, the asymmetry of this pile is really starting to bug me".

A mischievous smile appeared on Rick's face and found his new project. "Well, that-that was fun" said Rick, dropping his plate on the pile of junk "But I'm going to head out for-for uh…stuff." He walked past Grom and whispered an order for the mechanoid: make sure the pile remains asymmetrical.

The mechanical young man nodded. Rick left.

The scientist was already at the foot of the stairs when he heard a loud, frustrated cry come from the house.

Rick grinned, murmuring "Music to my ears" and carried on, passing Steven, who was entertaining himself with his mirror, and headed to town.

* * *

Rick reached the Big Doughnut and sat down at one of the tables set up close to the beach. He took out his handheld and was pleased to see that the analysis of Grom's systems from last night was done. Rick browsed through the data and saw that everything was normal, except for the signal.

According to the scans and analysis, Grom picked up a strange signal that allowed an unknown third party to access his systems and funnel garbled data into his head, which would probably explain why Grom was babbling a lot of nonsense in a variety of alien languages. Rick could trace the signal and discover who was behind Grom's episode. Unfortunately, there wasn't much to go on. The signal was so faint that there wasn't much to start an adequate trace. All in all, Rick was left with more questions and he hated having questions.

"Can I join you?" asked a voice.

The scientist looked up and saw Tessa the veterinarian standing there, holding a brown paper bag and a can of soda. Her raven hair was done up in a bun and she wore a blue shirt, long black pants and a green jacket.

Rick waved a hand "Be my guest".

Tessa sat down in one of the empty chairs at Rick's table and unloaded a sandwich from her paper bag. The scientist studied the vet as she ate in silence. After about of minute of awkward silence, Tessa decided to strike up a conversation.

"So…what's going on? Anything new or exciting?" Tessa asked through a mouthful of sandwich.

"Not really" grunted Rick, reclining in his chair "Only my mechanoid decided to have an _Exorcist_ moment last night. I had to reboot him. If that didn't work, I would've called a priest."

Tessa's eyes widened a little and she swallowed the food in her mouth. "That sounds…exciting," said the veterinarian after a moment of silence.

Rick shrugged "Yeah, whatever. What about you? Why are you here? Shouldn't you avoid me like a normal person and go back to your job or your life?"

Tessa nodded "I would but I'm currently in the middle of rebuilding my work place. Since that goo monster wrecked my office and ate all the animals I was treating, I have to start from scratch…again. Not to mention giving the bad news to some pet owners today."

"That sucks"

"Yeah, big time."

Tessa took another bite out of her sandwich and said, "Besides, you and Greg are like the only two friends I've made in this town and I like eating with friends. "

"Uh huh" said Rick, unbelieving.

"…My house is being fumigated" Tessa admitted reluctantly.

Rick nodded, satisfied with the answer but then he realized what the veterinarian said. The scientist's brow rose "Seriously? We're your only friends?"

"Yeah. It's kinda weird. I've tried getting to know people here and be friends with them but…I don't know. They're nice and all but they just seem strange to me. They treat me like I'm an alien or something. I feel like I'm totally out of place, like I don't belong here."

"Huh, me too" said Rick, thinking back on his first full day in Beach City "I-I mean I'm not a sociable person but the people here are just…strange. I'm on good terms with Kofi and a few others but the rest…I don't know, its-its just so weird here. Its like an episode of _The Twilight Zone._ "

"What's that?"

The scientist frowned "Never mind."

Rick and Tessa's conversation continued, though more candidly. The two had a little more in common than he thought, like tastes in music, film and books, though their discussion got heated when television was brought up. The scientist kept his guard up through the whole thing, thanks to what happened at the wedding, but he was feeling glad to have met Tessa. For the first time in a long time, he felt like he was talking to a real person.

The people in Beach City are friendly and Greg was good company but there was something about this town and its inhabitants that struck Rick as odd. The more he thought about it, the more Rick didn't like it. A giant goo monster rampaged and ate an entire bar full of people and wrought some serious damage only a day ago and yet there was no panic, no police presence or anything. It was as if none of it ever happened and it unsettled Rick just a little.

Rick and Tessa shared a box of doughnuts the veterinarian bought from the doughnut shop while discussing who would win in a fight between a gorilla and a narwhal, when a yelp broke their conversation.

A few feet away from them, the two saw that Steven had bumped into a lanky teenager with curly orange-brown hair. Rick noticed that the teenager wanted nothing more than to chew Steven out but was biting his tongue so he wouldn't look like a dick in front of his female coworker. The scientist didn't like the lanky teenager, not because of how he treats Steven, but rather because of his attitude. The teenager acted like he was apathetic and cool and was uppity towards Rick the last time they met. If there weren't so many witnesses around, Rick would've straightened him out.

"Are you guys excited for summer?" asked Steven, enthusiastically waving his hands, which were holding still holding the silver mirror.

The blond girl, Sadie, chuckled "I think I'm about as excited as one could get setting up extra tables for the summer rush, but Lars has big plans."

The lanky teen, Lars, was leaning against a table and picking his teeth, trying to act cool. He grinned, "You bet I do. All those out of town summer babes, traveling away from home without their boyfriends…if you know what I mean." He wiggled his eyebrow suggestively.

Steven was clueless as to what he meant.

"Maybe I'll get some numbers and maybe I'll even…call one!" Sadie was trying to be polite and not laugh but Rick, on the other hand, snorted loudly.

Lars heard and scowled at Rick "What's so funny?"

"Nothing, just the chances of you scoring a few numbers, let alone calling them, is just as likely as a finding an honest Flimdarp," sneered Rick "which is zilch in case you didn't catch my drift."

Lars's face grew red "Whatever gramps, I bet I can get, like, a hundred numbers in a single day."

Rick rolled his eyes "Oh please, don't embarrass yourself"

"oh what do you know"

"Kid, I see more action in a single weekend than you would in your entire life. Most of those times I don't even need to pay."

Before things got more out of hand, Sadie jumped in. "Well, I think Lars has about as much chance as me making a new friend."

"That's a great idea," said Steven "Making a special new friend to have fun on the beach with in the summer."

Rick belched and patted Tessa's shoulder "Well, I got mine." He looked to Lars "That makes one for me and zero for you kid."

Lars blushed furiously "Well…well, give me some time, I'm still on the clock. Next time you see me, I'm going to be on the arm of a hot woman" the teen stomped off. Sadie went after him.

Tessa gave Rick a look "Don't you think that was rather mean?"

Rick shrugged "Kid needs to learn some humility. Besides, this experience might just motivate him to prove me wrong."

The veterinarian cocked an eyebrow "Really?"

"Yeah, that or he's going to kill me in my sleep. Either way, I don't care."

Tessa shook her head slowly "You're an ass, you know that"

Rick smiled "I know it, love it and live it every day."

Steven joined the two at the table. The half-alien was happy to see Tessa and showed her the mirror. He explained that he found it the previous night and how it was suppose to show the user more on Gem culture and history. Tessa inspected it closely, running a finger along the intricate designs on the mirror.

Rick dismissed it as a worthless bauble that could fetch a lot of money at an auction. He offered to sell the mirror online and split the profits with the boy but Steven declined, saying that he had a special connection with the mirror. Rick frowned and looked at the cracked blue gem on the back of the mirror.

"For a race of gemstones, don't you think it's a little strange for them to use tools that run on other gemstones?" mused Rick "I-I mean it would be like if we chopped off someone's arm and used it as a butt scratcher."

Tessa shrugged "I don't know anything about these gem people. I just met them yesterday." She glanced at the blue gem and frowned "I think it's more or less like a little memory disc and the mirror itself is like a screen."

Rick shrugged "Maybe. Either way, don't know, don't care."

Steven tried to activate the mirror but was unsuccessful, like before. He tried again but same result. Rick sighed and extended a hand.

"Here, g-give it to me" said the scientist.

Steven complied. Rick analyzed the mirror in his hands, inspecting every inch of it closely. He used his handheld to scan the mirror, which listed the materials making up the mirror and other mundane things, until a blip of energy registered on the scanner. Rick whipped out a new tool that looked like a cattle prod and clicked a button, causing thin strands of energy to crackle between the prongs. He tapped it lightly against the cracked blue gem on the back of the mirror, eliciting an earsplitting scream.

Rick jumped back, drawing his gun. Tessa and Steven did likewise, minus being armed. The mirror had dropped onto the table, face down, and the scream was muffled. The three stood there, staring at the mirror warily, waiting for it to move or attack but nothing happened.

The mirror went silent. Rick's eyes narrowed. The scientist drew his cattle prod tool again and repeated the process, earning another scream.

"What the hell was that about?" said Tessa, eyeing the mirror with suspicion.

Rick scratched his chin thoughtfully. "Either this thing is cursed," the scientist mused "Or this thing is possessed. I-I'm le*urp*aning towards possessed _."_

"Cursed? Possessed?" the veterinarian repeated, bewildered

"Yeah, dangerous stuff. I-I mean have you seen the movie _Oculus?_ Kinda trippy. Pro tip: don't watch while on acid 'cause I ended up hiding in my bathroom with a butter knife until I was sober."

Steven snatched up the mirror and cradled it in his hands like a baby. "Its ok, its ok," the young boy soothed "Rick didn't mean to hurt you."

"Steven I think you should put that mirror down" Rick urged, "That mirror isn't just a mirror or a viewing device, its something…more."

"I know. This mirror is special."

"Steven, that mirror just screamed at me. It's-it's registering a low energy signature, which could either mean a life sign, or it could mean exotic radiation that could melt your balls. Hell, for all we know, that mirror could be some-some spy tool or a new alien life form."

"Or a portal to Hell" added Tessa, sardonically.

Rick nodded "Exac*urp*tly! So just give me the mirror and I'll take care of it."

"No!" cried Steven, pulling away from Rick.

The scientist scowled "Why not?"

"You can't destroy it! It's alive and it's my friend"

"You don't know that!"

"You don't either! The mirror could be nice."

Rick rubbed his temples "Steven, I know where you're coming from but you're really pissing me off!"

"I don't care! Not everything is an evil monster that needs to be destroyed maybe sometimes they're misunderstood. I think you're just being paranoid!"

"I-I get it that not ev*urp*eryone is a monster but your bleeding heart ethics is giving me a migraine. You need to…" Rick trailed off. He sighed in frustration "You know what… forget it!" He waved a dismissive hand "Forget everything I said. Run along now and have fun with your new pal!"

Steven frowned "What?"

"You heard me. Go, have fun with your magical mirror, see if I care. If, and when, that thing turns out to be dangerous, don't come crying to me 'cause I'm sick of saving your ass due to your stupid, magical friendship bullshit, which I have done all month." Rick holstered his gun, plopped back into his chair and stuffed a doughnut into his mouth.

Steven opened his mouth to speak but the super scientist held up a hand and looked away. The half-alien felt a twinge of regret. He didn't mean to upset Rick but the boy didn't want to destroy the mirror. The mirror could be friendly and he just couldn't bear the thought of destroying a potential friend and innocent life. Steven said goodbye to Rick and Tessa and went on his way.

When Steven left, Tessa looked to Rick and asked "Well that was harsh, maybe a bit stubborn."

Rick shrugged "Maybe, but the kid needs to learn that the universe is a scary place, filled with scary shit that will kill you and that not everything wants to be friends. Besides, I need a day off from fixing his problems, this is my vacation and I'm going to do a lot while I'm on vacation."

* * *

Rick did nothing for the rest of the day.

Though the scientist had schemes to do and a list of chores to get done but Rick decided to take advantage of the day and just do nothing. After finishing up the box of doughnuts, Rick bid Tessa goodbye and just wandered about the town.

Having his fill of fried foods and aimless drifting, Rick headed back to Steven's place.

Speaking of Steven, the mad scientist passed the half alien on the way back. The boy and his mirror were making fart noises during the mayor's speech, which had the whole crowd roaring with laughter.

Rick couldn't help but laugh too. The mayor just made it too easy. Maybe Steven was right. Maybe Rick was overreacting. However, as he passed the half alien by, Rick heard the mirror communicate with snippets of phrases and sentences that others had spoken in its presence, including Tessa and himself.

The scientist froze. He thought of the mirror repeating things others have said and then his thoughts went to the midnight discussion he had with Grom. In fact, the scream the mirror used sounded oddly like Grom's from last night.

Something in his mind clicked, causing Rick to curse under his breath.

He should get rid of the mirror now before its too late but he decided to play it cool. If the mirror did blab, then Steven would've confronted Rick by now and even if it did, Steven doesn't know anything about Rick's plans.

The mad scientist carried on, mentally planning to smash the mirror once the boy was asleep.

At Steven's house, Rick was pleased to see Pearl still fixated on the pile. It was partly organized and arranged but as she tried to place a book in one area to make it symmetrical, Grom dropped an item elsewhere on the pile, rendering it asymmetrical once more. While Pearl was distracted with Grom's addition, Amethyst snuck up from behind and added another two items to the pile.

Pearl let out a frustrated cry and chased the two off with her spear. Rick grinned and joined in the fun.

* * *

Evening came and the fun began to wind down.

Rick was sitting on the couch with a can of beer, watching as Pearl circle her now-symmetrical pile like a guard dog. Feeling up for one last laugh, Rick nudged Grom and the mechanoid attempted to place a book on the pile to compromise its symmetry. Quick as a flash, Pearl struck at Grom with her spear.

The mechanoid wasn't fast enough, which earned him a crack on the head. Grom crumpled to the floor.

Pearl began to berate the mechanoid for tormenting her all day but stopped mid tirade after seeing that he wasn't moving.

"Is he going to be ok?" Pearl asked Rick.

Rick shrugged "Maybe. Just give him a few minutes, he'll rebo*urp*ot on his own." A few minutes passed but Grom remained motionless.

The scientist let out a frustrated sigh. He got up, murmuring something about scrapping the defective mechanoid under his breath. After some quick tinkering, Rick flipped Grom onto his back and the mechanical young man sat up.

"Sorry about that" Pearl apologized "I assumed you would dodge." She grimaced, noticing the split in Grom's artificial scalp, exposing a piece of his smooth metal skull "I may have struck you harder than I intended. Sorry."

Grom looked at the thin gem, expression blank as normal but there was something offsetting in his eyes. The mechanoid opened his mouth and a stream of alien words tumbled out.

Pearl cocked an eyebrow "I'm sorry?"

Grom spoke again in alien. He pointed at Pearl then Amethyst and then to Garnet, speaking in an unusually deep, accented voice that caused all three gems to feel uncomfortable.

Amethyst looked at Rick "What's he saying?"

"Do I look like a linguist?" Rick grunted.

"Well you're the alien expert," said Pearl, sardonically "This should be a piece of pie for you,"

"Cake, and I am an expert but its-its just that this language sounds…ancient."

Garnet frowned "Ancient?"

"Yeah, like dawn of time kind of ancient" said Rick "The kind that no one speaks, let alone understands. Hold on a sec…" He punched in a command into his watch and Grom's voice returned to normal and was speaking English.

"…You pitiful creatures," the mechanical young man intoned "comfortable in your ignorance, blinded by arrogance and your little bubble. You know not what awaits."

"Oh really?" snorted Rick, crossing his arms "Do, tell."

Grom looked up at Rick and an odd, eerie smile formed on the mechanical young man's face.

"You arrogant fool" chuckled Grom "A great darkness is coming. The stone queen and the empire of shadows shall rise, the beast shall escape from the crystal casket and consume the warriors of light and then he shall come for the jeweled heart. It shall begin at the first sign and the first sign shall be this: the water witch shall-"

"Blah, blah, blah" Rick heckled "Jeez how derivative can you get Grom? A dark and foreboding prophesy? Oooh so scary! Try spinning your head and vomiting next time and I might pretend quake in my boots _._ "

Pearl shushed him and tried to listen but only caught parts of it due to Rick's loud, rude commentary and Grom's voice slowly dying."…The musician will be at a crossroads…the half-breed shall be betrayed…the patriot…the threefold woman…He Who Walks in Shadows…the vagabond…attack ships on fire…madness…death…"

Grom's voice died, his eyes became glassy and lifeless. The mechanoid fell back to the floor. Silence hung in the air among the four inhabitants of the house. Grom's words echoed through the minds of each of the gems while Rick was running another diagnostic.

After a length of silence, Amethyst spoke. "Well that was…really weird," the purple gem said slowly.

Garnet nodded in agreement. Pearl remained silent, mulling over the machine's eerie prophecy but couldn't make sense of it.

"Damn it, not again…" hissed Rick. Pearl looked at Rick.

"Again?"

Rick sighed, "This isn't Grom's first time doing this"

"Seeing the future?" "Freaking out. He's a defective mechanoid. His malfunctions usually manifests itself in bizarre behavior, sometimes burning out parts, frying circuits and sometimes going on violent rampages."

"How many times has he done this?" asked Pearl.

Rick shrugged "He's malfunctioned a few times, but this…this is new. This has happened only once."

"If he goes on rampages and babbles, why did he shut down?"

"Not sure, could be from whatever is causing this." Amethyst walked over to the now dormant mechanoid, inspecting him cautiously. "So…what do you think caused this?" the purple gem asked.

Rick scratched his chin "I have a few working theories but to be ho*urp*nest…I'm not sure, yet. Could be an old hidden subroutine or a program. Its most likely that someone is just screwing with us by speaking through him via hacking into his auditory functions."

"This is bad," murmured Garnet. Pearl, Amethyst and Rick looked at the large gem.

"I believe that this…prophecy or whatever may come to pass," she said gravely.

Rick rolled his eyes "Please, this 'prophecy' is about as feasible as reviving disco…its-its never going to happen. Besides, have you been listening? 'A great darkness' and 'you know not what awaits' its-its text book horror."

"I may have to agree with Rick on this" Pearl said, crossing her arms "This could be just a malfunction or an error…"

"Its not" Garnet said firmly "I…I am having trouble seeing the future." Pearl and Amethyst gasped.

Rick's brow rose "Wait you can see the future?"

"Yes…sort of" Garnet sighed, "As of late, every time I try to see the future I see…images, flashes really. I can't seem to make sense of it but no matter how hard I try, my future vision gets stuck on a handful of images…none of them good."

Pearl and Amethyst shared a concerned look, Rick on the other hand looked at her in disbelief. "Are you serious? You mean to tell me that you could see the future this whole time and you didn't tell me! Do you know what we could've done?"

"You never asked…"

"We could've been rich!"

Before the discussion went further, Steven arrived.

* * *

Steven burst through his front door shouting "Guys! Wait till you see…"

The half-alien boy stopped in the doorway, seeing Grom lying on the floor near a neat pile of school things with his eyes wide and lifeless. Rick stood next to him, as did Pearl and Amethyst. Garnet was sitting on the couch. Rick noticed that Steven's face glowed with happiness and excitement, probably from a long day of fun with his new friend. Speaking of new friend, the scientist noticed the mirror in the boy's hand.

Instantly, Rick let the discussion drop and decide to take a step back and fix up his mechanoid. "Yo! Stee-man!" Amethyst greeted.

"Hello Steven" said Pearl.

"Howdy" Garnet greeted the boy, miming shooting a gun with one hand saying, "Bang."

Rick made a curt greeting as he dragged Grom into the kitchen. As he went to work restoring Grom to consciousness, Rick listened to what was happening a few feet away. Amethyst showed off how obsessed Pearl was with symmetry, which resulted in the casualty of MC Bear-Bear. Steven glossed past that and went right to showing off his newly fixed mirror, causing Rick to roll his eyes and mutter under his breath.

"You never told me that it was like a person" Steven said.

The Gems stared at him in shock. "What?" Pearl said, taken aback.

"Watch this. Say hey!" Steven held up the mirror. Silence.

After a few moments, Steven excused himself. He turned his back to the Gems and tried coaxing the mirror to reveal itself. Pearl and the others looked on in concern.

Rick was sitting on a stool, watching the whole thing unfold with mild interest. Needless to say, the scientist was getting a horror movie vibe from this moment, almost as much as he was when Grom rattled off his vague prophecy.

"Come on, you want to come out don't you?" Steven coaxed "You have so much to say and funny noises to share from across the ages. Are not beach-summer-fun buddies?" An eerie silence filled the void for a few heartbeats then the mirror's smooth glass rippled then displayed Steven's face, probably from an earlier time that day, making farting noises.

Rick's brow rose, while the gems looked like they were about to have a heart attack. Steven chuckled "Just couldn't help yourself, couldn't you."

The mirror rippled again, this time showing a mash up of sentences and faces from both Steven and Ronaldo, "Just…for…you…Steven." The mirror's surface rippled again and began to laugh using Steven's captured laughter, playing it on repeat.

Pearl looked disturbed by what she was witnessing. "It's talking to him?" she breathed, "It shouldn't be doing that. It-it should only be following orders."

Rick shrugged "What can I say, that thing's got the devil in it. I told him to get rid of it but would he listen, nooooo."

"Garnet do something," Amethyst whispered, visibly freaked out by what's going on.

"Steven" Garnet said, approaching the boy. By now a kaleidoscope of Steven's faces danced around in the glass, laughing and grinning. The faces shimmered and faded into a single Steven face bearing a look of surprise and fear. Rick could feel that something was about to go down and he fetched a pudding cup from the fridge. When Garnet's shadow fell upon Steven, the mirror cried out in Steven's voice "Nooooo!" Steven looked over his shoulder at his alien guardian, suspicion filling his eyes.

"You should just give us back the mirror" Garnet cautioned, kneeling to meet the boy's eye level "It'll be safer where we can watch it"

"Yeah, lets bubble it!" Amethyst chimed

"Kill it with fire!" Rick joked.

The half-alien hesitated. He looked at the new friend he made then to the guardian who watched over him for most of his life, not really sure what to do.

"No!" cried mirror-Steven. The mirror amplified Steven's cry to an unbearable volume, its glass showing a swirling whirlpool of faces, looking sad and terrified. Rick was half tempted to shoot the mirror out of the boy's hand and put an end to it but he remembered that he was staying out of Steven's way and let him deal with things. The scientist stuffed cotton balls into his ears, mercifully muffling the mirror's cry.

"Don't make me take it from you" warned Garnet

"It doesn't want to go with you!" Steven said, growing nervous.

"Its just a tool" the large gem said, "It can't want anything."

As she reached for the mirror, the mirror's cries grew even louder.

"It wants to be with me!" Steven yelled. He smacked Garnet's hand away, which struck the gem in the face, knocking her shades to the floor. The house fell silent. Pearl gaped at Steven and Amethyst gasped as if the boy had desecrated something holy.

Rick was surprised as well and saw the anger forming on the large gem's face. Steven noticed as well.

"Run boy! Run!" Rick hollered.

Steven bolted, shouting "Ah! I'm sorry, I'm sorry…!"

Garnet scooped up her shades and placed them back where they belong. "That little boy is in big trouble" Garnet growled. She stomped off after the boy with Amethyst in pursuit.

"Garnet wait!" cried Pearl "I'm sure he didn't understand what he's doing!" She gave chase.

A smile grew on the mad scientist's face. This was an interesting development. There was a hum and Rick glimpsed Grom's body moving. The mechanoid sat up and looked around, confused.

"What happened?" asked the mechanical young man

"You blacked out again" said Rick "I swear man, you're almost as bad as I am."

The machine man's eyes roved about the dim house, with the light of a purple light of twilight filtering through the windows. He asked after the gems and Steven and Rick succinctly explained, "The boy's mirror is possessed, he hit Garnet in the face and now he's about to get a sound…er…disciplining as modern parents call it."

"Oh" said Grom.

The two sat there quietly for a few moments then Grom asked, "Do you wish to go and observe this…disciplining?"

"Hell yeah!" said Rick.

* * *

The two caught up to the Gems and Steven and were in time to see something peculiar. According to Grom's enhanced vision, Steven had ripped off the cracked gem from off the back of the mirror and a blue female appeared. When the mechanoid described the figure as having clear, reflective eyes, Rick immediately felt that his horror movie reference was justified.

"I told you!" said Rick "Freaky ass mirror, mirror doing some weird stuff and boom, woman with mirror like eyes! This is straight out of _Oculus."_

"Didn't they all die at the end?" asked Grom.

Rick shrugged "I dunno, I didn't finish it. Like I said, I was tripping balls at the time. Man, the hallucinations and that light bulb thing really got to me." The scientist shuddered a little.

"Acid does that to you"

"Amen."

The two circled around and climbed up some boulders in order to get a better vantage point. As they settled in their seats, Grom was relaying what was being spoken. "You three knew I was in there," repeated Grom, in monotone "And you didn't do anything."

Rick watched as the seawater behind the woman shift and rise, forming into an arm. The blue woman was screeching about something then brought down the watery hand on Garnet, crushing her like a cockroach. Pearl and Amethyst scattered, trying to avoid a follow up attack. Pearl cried out for Steven to run. The boy demanded to know why the woman was attacking his friends. The blue woman was screaming that she wouldn't be kept prisoner any longer. When she parted the sea behind her with a wave of her hand, Rick's mouth fell open.

"Ok, what the hell is that?" said Rick "Just what-what the hell am I looking at here?"

"It appears to be hydro-kinesis" Grom answered.

"I know that, I'm just being f*urp*king rhetorical! But seriously, that's some OP bullshit right there!"

"I am just as surprised as you are Mr. Sanchez."

Rick's mind raced. Garnet could see the future and this Lapis Lazuli can waterbend. What else can these creatures do and were there limits to them? Grom continued reporting on what the blue gem doing. She was trying to persuade Steven to go with her but the boy hesitated. It seemed like she was saddened by Steven's choice but understood. She warned him not to trust the gems then walked into the sea.

The two watched, as Garnet broke free from the giant water arm and tried to attack. With a gesture, Lapis knocked both Steven and Garnet backwards with a powerful wave. Moments later, she was gone. Pearl and Amethyst arrived. Pearl threw her arms around a soaked Steven, asking if he was ok. The boy nodded but he stared off at the calm, glassy sea. Rick decided that they should move in closer.

Rick and Grom emerged from their hiding place and sidled up to the group, pretending to have been there the entire time.

"So…another gem?" Rick inquired casually.

Pearl nodded "Yeah." The group remained on the beach in silence, staring off at the horizon as calm waves lapped against the shore.

Garnet spoke, breaking the tranquility of the moment. "Steven, you're grounded"

"Ooooh busted, ha ha!" said Rick.

With that, Steven was marched back to the house by Amethyst and Pearl. Garnet gazed at the sea for a little while longer than departed. Rick and Grom trailed after but partway down the beach, the scientist noticed something gleam in the corner of his eye. He paused and glanced back at the sea.

Years of adventure and honed instincts told him that something or someone was watching him. The scientist waited, trying to pick out anything out of the ordinary but the sea seemed undisturbed. Rick thought nothing more of it. To be safe, he ordered Grom to watch the sea once they reached the house.

* * *

A fair distance away, the silhouette of a head carefully emerged from the water. The head watched the group returning to Steven's home, but was focused more specifically two certain individuals.

After good few minutes of observation, Lapis' reflective eyes narrowed and she sank back beneath the waves and departed.

* * *

Morning came and Rick was feeling unusually chipper.

When the scientist, Steven and everyone from Beach City awoke, they were greeted not by the familiar sight and sound of the sea, but rather an endless sandy expanse. Dotting the newly formed desert horizon were various sea faring vessels unfortunate enough to be at sea when the water vanished.

When Greg alerted Rick and the Gems of the ocean's disappearance, Rick demanded to know why Grom didn't inform him of what happened. The mechanoid simply responded that he was ordered to watch the sea and he did…as it disappeared.

The scientist kicked the mechanical young man's shin but only earned some sore toes.

Down on beach, standing close to the line where the ocean once met land, the assembled citizenry of the beachside town chattered nervously, trying to make sense of what has happened to the water.

"The ocean…" Steven breathed, shocked.

"Having any second thoughts about not giving me the mirror?" asked Rick.

The half-alien shook his head slowly "No but…"

"But what? D-do you see what happened when you let her go? She attacked you and now the freaking ocean is gone!"

"It might not be Lapis it might just…" Steven trailed off, fumbling for an excuse but failing.

At the head of the crowd, Mayor Dewey was trying to grasp how the ocean had just vanished overnight. When the gems arrived, Mayor Dewey pointed at them and cried through his megaphone "Hey! It's those magical ladies!"

He stomped over and demanded, loudly "What's going on here!"

"The ocean's gone, obviously" Garnet answered bluntly.

"Exactly and now it's a desert! No one wants to take a vacation to… Desert City!" the sweaty mayor sank to his knees, wailing, "We're going to lose all our summer business!"

"And the beach babes" whined Ronaldo.

"Who's going to buy my fries!" complained Mr. Fryman

"And my pizza!" chimed Kofi.

Other voices joined in, complaining about lost business. Rick frowned. The ocean is missing and their worried about their businesses? Typical.

"As mayor, I demand that you explain this immediately!" Mayor Dewey bellowed through his megaphone in Garnet's face. Garnet knocked the megaphone out of Mayor Dewey's hand, causing him to go silent.

"Perhaps I can help," Rick piped up.

Mayor Dewey looked at Rick and frowned in confusion "Who are you?"

"Rick Sanchez, smartest man in the universe," the scientist introduced himself "And I'm going to explain how this is going to go down. Losing tourist dollars will pale in com*urp*parison to the global crisis that's occurring as we speak."

"Crisis?" echoed Kofi.

Rick nodded, a grim expression crossing his features. "As of right now, the world is in turmoil. The disappearance of the ocean will impact everything in numerous different ways. The global economy, the environment and everything else will-will fall to pieces. The ice caps are screwed anyway so no need to worry about pollution. Governments will declare martial law to keep order but that will fail. If the ocean doesn't come back, which it most likely won't, we're looking at global war for what precious little water is left. The planet will crumble into an inhospitable desert nightmare. Before long, you will all die but the question is by what? The usual options are starvation, thirst or roving gangs of bandits or even your neighbor. Those still standing will be sold into slavery or be made into hood ornaments for some leather wearing, bloodthirsty warlord."

Rick's words cast a pall on the assembled townsfolk. A wave of nervous chatter swept through the people, all frightened by Rick's description of what seemed likely to be happening in the world.

Pearl shot Rick a dark look "That's not going to happen!"

"Just calling it like it is," Rick said, shrugging "I mean, no-no need to sugar coat it, I mean they're probably all screwed anyways."

Panic started to seep into the crowd but Steven managed to get control of things by declaring that they can get the ocean back and that they knew who did it.

"The one responsible is called Lapis Lazuli" Garnet explained, "She's the one that Steven released the mirror"

Pearl projected a holographic image of Lapis from the gem in her forehead. The people gaped at the hologram in amazement.

"But she's a gem, like us" said Steven.

"There's a lot that you don't know about gems, Steven" Pearl said. With the discussion at the beach concluded, everyone went home.

* * *

Back at Steven's home, Rick was kicking back on the couch, relaxing while Greg and the gems spoke in hushed voices about Lapis. Connie was there too, for some reason. As the conversation carried on, Rick noticed Steven stuffing his hamburger backpack with an assortment of items and made for the door.

"Where are you going Steven?" asked Connie.

"I'm the one who let Lapis out of the mirror" Steven answered, his face grim "It's my fault that the ocean's gone, so I'm going to get it back or get really thirsty trying."

"Good luck with that" said Rick, waving a dismissive hand.

"Hold on kiddo," Greg said, grabbing his son's shoulder "I'm coming with you"

"me too" said Connie, jumping to her feet. "Clearly, we're coming too" said Pearl.

"Pass" grunted Rick. Everyone looked at Rick.

"Why not?" Steven asked.

The scientist glanced at him "You remember what I said about the mirror yesterday?"

"Yeah" "There's your explanation. This is your problem and you have to fix it."

"We might need you and your super science" tried Connie.

Rick gave an indifferent shrug "Like Steven said, he let Lapis out of the mirror so it falls to him fix it. Be*urp*sides, s-someone has to hold down the fort in case of wasteland bandits and looters and shit. They might steal our water and-and toilet paper. Trust me, your gonna need both of them to survive."

Connie and Steven tried to convince Rick but Pearl told them to leave Rick be. She already knew that the scientist already had an army of excuses waiting.

As the group filed out of the house to begin their quest, Amethyst asked if Grom was going to join them. The mechanoid glanced over at Rick. The scientist nodded and then the two left to join the rest of the group.

Rick watched as Steven and the others left in Greg's van and on Lion's back.

As they faded in the distance, Rick went back in side to enjoy the peace and quiet and explore a little.

* * *

The scientist reclined on the couch as he watched Steven's TV, which sat on the coffee table a few feet in front of him.

After exploring the temple a little, finding little interest in anything except the chamber filled with bubbled gems, Rick got bored and took a nap. He woke up a few minutes after sundown and decided to watch TV.

A knock at the door interrupted Rick's TV watching. He opened the door and saw Tessa standing there. The veterinarian was wearing a green shirt and dark pants, carrying a duffle bag. Her hair was in a bun like yesterday and her face looked slightly different, possibly due to the absence of makeup.

"Can I help you?" Rick asked, narrowing his eyes.

"Do…do you mind if I camp out here tonight?" asked the veterinarian.

"Why?"

"Like I said, my house is being fumigated and will take another day or so to finish up, the motels are closed up and with this whole ocean thing has Mayor Dewey and the rest of the town are acting…strange."

"How so?"

"Well theres a roving gang of panicked townspeople foraging for supplies on my street, so i got out of there before they try and hang me for hoarding food or something. On the way here, I saw Mayor Dewey take a gardening hose and is currently trying to refill the ocean. You can see him there."

The veterinarian directed Rick's gaze to a figure in the distance behind her, kneeling in the sand and from the sound of it, sobbing.

"Things might get a little hairy and when things go down, I know to stick by you cause you're the only one who seems to know what's going on."

Rick nodded slowly and allowed her in.

The two sat on the couch and flipped through the channels and perused the Internet. Every channel seemed to confirm what Rick had told Mayor Dewey. The entire planet was in chaos. Rioting and looting were happening everywhere in the world. Governments the world over demanded answers and were cracking down to keep the peace. So far, there were no leather cladded gangs in souped up cars, though there were a lot of sailors stranded in the middle of the new vast deserts.

Tessa cooked up some microwaveable pizza rolls while Rick fetched a couple of beers and the two settled on a news station that was covering the global catastrophe.

"T-this is nice" sighed Rick "Two friends, chillin' o*urp*ut, sharing some drinks and pizza rolls as the world goes to hell."

Tessa nodded "Certainly beats being stuck in traffic with the billions of other panicked people and pet-sitting for my Aunt Dorothy for a week in Empire City."

"Amen." The two clanked their beer cans together.

When Tessa noticed that Greg and Steven were missing, she asked where they went. Rick explained Steven and friend's little crusade to bring back the ocean.

"But how do they know where to go?" Tessa inquired.

Rick shrugged "I don't know…divining rods?"

The scientist suddenly remembered that Grom accompanied the group. He hooked his handheld device up with the television, explaining that since his mechanoid went with Steven, he should be able to access Grom's optic functions and see what he sees. The scientist punched in a series of commands into the device and the news disappeared from the screen and was replaced by a view of the inside of Greg's van.

The inside of the van was cramped and messy. Judging from what was on screen, Rick and Tessa surmised that Grom was in the back with Amethyst and Greg, nestled somewhere among the sea of junk. In the front seat, Pearl was driving and talking to Steven and Connie, who were trotting alongside the van on Lion.

"…not all gems are necessarily good" Pearl explained in a measured tone.

Rick accessed Grom's vocal features and spoke into the microphone on his handheld "I thought that was pretty obvious. In fact the whole 'not everyone is necessarily good' rule applies to everything."

Pearl jumped, almost putting her head through the roof of the van.

"Rick?" said Amethyst, eyeing Grom up and down.

"Yeah its-its me" the scientist belched "Tessa's here too. We're watching you on TV."

"Hello!" greeted the veterinarian.

Though he couldn't see it very well, Rick knew that Greg's face turned red, probably embarrassed by the fact that the woman he has a crush on is seeing the inside of his messy van.

"How are you-?"

"Remote access to Grom's systems, interfaced with Steven's TV. I can see and hear everything Grom does."

Pearl gave him a look "You can do that?" Rick didn't get a chance to explain due to the immense glowing pillar of seawater appearing ahead of them. Everyone stared in awe of the pillar. It was wider than a city block and reached so far into the sky that it vanished into the clouds.

Even on a small screen, the size of the pillar impressed Rick and Tessa.

Pearl pulled the van over and everyone got out. Rick zoomed in on the pillar and saw various aquatic creatures swimming about inside the water.

"Well that answers that question" Tessa murmured.

"This is it, Lapis Lazuli is here," said Garnet, hopping down from the roof of the van. Connie was closest to the pillar, peering into its depths, eyeballing the various sea creatures contained within. A loud voice thundered the night, causing the ground to quake.

"You should not be here!" boomed the voice. Everyone recognized the voice immediately. It was Lapis Lazuli.

"She's sensed us!" Garnet exclaimed.

Steven stepped forward and bellowed Lapis' name and informed her of who was trespassing. A massive, liquid face emerged from the watery pillar. Rick and Tessa silently watched the proceedings. Lapis demanded that Steven and the others leave her alone or else.

"Bring it bitch!" Rick shouted into the microphone. Fortunately for those actually present at the pillar, Garnet foresaw Rick's comment and clapped her hand over Grom's mouth just in time.

"But we're beach-summer-fun buddies!" said Steven.

Lapis' face transformed into Steven's and cried "Noooo!" then reverted back to Lapis. She scowled at the half-alien "You're one of them, one of the crystal gems." Lapis turned her head and was staring down at Grom "And why are you here? After all these years, why did you decide to come back, you liar!"

"Huh?" said everyone at the pillar in unison.

Back at Steven's house, Tessa gave Rick a questioning look but the scientist only shrugged.

Before anyone could react, a giant watery hand burst from the pillar and snatched up the mechanoid then pulled him inside. Once Grom was within the pillar the feed turned to static. Rick swore loudly. He tried everything to reestablish a link but failed. Furious, Rick kicked the TV over and called it a rude name.

Once he cooled down a little, the scientist turned to Tessa and asked, "Wanna try some Kollaxion Crystals?"

* * *

Morning arrived and so did the ocean.

Rick and Tessa sat out on the porch the rest of the night. Rick was trying to get Tessa to bet with him on whether or not Steven's mission to recover the ocean was going to succeed but she declined, like she did with the offer of Kollaxion Crystals.

Occasionally the scientist would peer through his binoculars and laugh at Mayor Dewey, who was still out on his knees, weeping and futilely refill the ocean with the hose. As the sun climbed up over the horizon, a loud rumbling could be heard and Rick and Tessa saw a torrent of blue came rushing in. The ocean.

A large, pink bubble rolled ashore in front of Steven's house, carrying Steven, his dad and everyone who went on the journey.

Mayor Dewey and the rest of Beach City's citizens, who looked disheveled and frazzled, came rushing in. They lifted the boy up on their shoulders and showered him with cheers and thanks. Rick and Tessa joined the celebrating crowd on the beach, though Rick lagged behind by a couple steps.

From the looks of things, Steven did what he set out to do and everyone came back unscathed, except for his dad who was now nursing a broken leg and a broken van.

After the cheering crowd dissipated, Rick approached Steven. "Gotta say, I didn't think you had it in you" Rick said honestly.

"Thanks Rick" Steven said, grinning ear to ear.

"So, how did you do it? Cracked her head open? Had Grom put one between her eyes?"

Steven stared at him "What? No, no I didn't kill her. I healed her broken gem and she left. She just wanted to go home. When she left, the ocean just came back."

Rick's eyes widened "What? You let her go?"

"Yeah. Its like I said, she wasn't evil after all. She just wanted to go home."

The scientist stared at the kid in disbelief. First off, he had healing powers? Second, he let a powerful and unstable being escape into outer space with no idea of her intentions or what she might do. If she felt like it, she might return with an armada or get tangled up with some very unpleasant groups looking to hit an easy score, like Earth. He wanted very much to yell at the kid for making such a foolish decision but Rick suppressed his murderous rage, feeling that it wasn't in the kid's nature to be a killer like him. He smiled.

"Well, I suppose I could make an 'E.T. phone home' joke, but that's been done to death." Rick chuckled a little. He noticed Grom emerging from the back of Greg's damaged van. He was fine, though water logged. The mechanoid's expression was blank like normal but Rick could tell that something seemed different.

The scientist asked Steven what happened and the boy explained that when he went up to see Lapis, she had the mechanoid encased in a bubble and was questioning him about some broken promise and demanded to know why he was green.

The half-alien wondered why she would do that but Rick told the boy to not worry about it.

"Being stuck in a mirror for a few thousand years can drive anyone crazy" Rick said casually "I mean, its almost as bad as being stuck in a Federation pri…" his voice dropped, letting the sentence hang their like an unfinished tapestry then wandered off.

Steven gave Rick an odd look but he shrugged then he went to find Connie but he stopped, noticing that his dad was talking to Tessa the veterinarian. The former musician standing on his good leg, leaning against hid totaled van. The young boy noticed that his dad was hanging on every word Tessa was saying and that he seemed to be smiling a lot more. Steven smiled, happy that through all of this, his dad found a summer time friend.

Rick joined Garnet and Pearl, who were standing there and staring up at the sky with a mixture of worry and anticipation painted on their faces.

"So…she left," Rick said, pulling out his flask.

"I'm afraid so" answered Pearl.

The scientist took a pull from his flask then said, "She's going to be back, you know that."

"We don't know for sure," said Garnet "All we can do is watch and wait."

Rick shrugged "Whatever. But let me tell you something: everything is going to change from here on out, 'cause something big is about to go down. Seriously,, my spidy senses are just tingling!"

The scientist turned and walked away. Pearl and Garnet ignored the scientist but deep down, they both felt that Rick was telling the truth.

The question on their minds was on what the future held for them.

* * *

Miles away in a secure conference room, a small collection of men and women in suits were gathered around a long polished table, staring at a wall that acted as a massive video screen. The entire wall was covered with news footage from hundreds of news sites from across the globe, all of them talking about the mysterious disappearance and sudden reappearance of the ocean.

At present, the current state of the world was back to some semblance of normal. Riots and looting were down, order has been restored and governments and news agencies were postulating theories or half explanations on what had happened, ranging from radical changes in the lunar tides to bizarre seismic shifts in the earth's crust.

A man sitting at the head of the table raised a hand and the wall of news footage stopped. "Well, that was certainly a close one" the man remarked.

"Indeed, fortunately we have a good PR department," said Rikki Sanchez. She was sitting at the foot of the table, opposite of her colleague. She looked like she hadn't slept at all, which she didn't. For most of the past day or so was spent putting out fires and worrying about the artifact in Egypt.

"Do we know of the cause of this event?" asked a woman, sitting to the right of the man who spoke.

"Indeed we do," answered Rikki. She clicked a button on the small remote and the wall displayed an orbital image of a massive, blue structure and explained, "The day the oceans were reported missing, this thing appeared. Upon closer examination, we find this…" The director clicked another button and the image zoomed until it landed on a blue skinned woman in a dress.

A series of murmurs sounded from around the table. "Who is this woman?" asked a man to Rikki's left.

"We don't know. Facial recognition software couldn't place a match. Neither did this one." Rikki pressed a button and the image changed, showing a green figure in an Aloha shirt, trapped in a bubble of blue. "However, it did make a match on this one." The image changed, this time showing a boy in a red shirt with a large gold star on it. A photo and a small block of text appeared next to the satellite image.

"Steven Universe, a native of Beach City" Rikki elaborated "Not much of a record. We have dental and medical but we don't have anything in the Department of Education. His father…" another click brought up a file photo of a heavy set man with a bad sunburn "Greg DeMayo, a.k.a. Greg Universe, a.k.a. Mr. Universe, was a musician, albeit not a very successful one. Owns a carwash in Beach City."

The assembled men and women absorbed this information carefully. Rikki crossed her arms "Judging from satellite images and reports, Mr. Universe, his son and Beach City are all connected to these…colorful characters. We have also reason to believe that there may be a connection to the artifact in Egypt."

"How so?" asked the first man.

"Based on the timing of everything, the design of the structure in Beach City matching various artifacts recovered at several different sites from around the world, including a tomb in Egypt, and the account of one of our prisoners, which described in detail a boy with a red shirt with a gold star on it."

Some smatterings of chatter filled the room then were cut off by the man at the head of the table.

"What exactly are you saying, Director Sanchez?" questioned the man, icily.

Rikki's expression hardened "What I'm saying, Chairman, is that we are witnessing the beginnings of an alien incursion. First my agents encounter a downed spacecraft outside Beach City and then are ambushed. Second, we have the activation of an alien teleportation device carrying a small probe and now we have this…woman holding the sea being held for ransom, without a ransom demand."

The director clicked the remote and the image changed to one of the blue woman, now with blue, translucent wings of liquid, taking flight and soaring into space as the gigantic structure crumbles beneath. "This woman has the power to command the sea itself. She possibly more abilities than we can fathom. Now she is off world, flying to who knows where. We don't know why she took the sea, but it sends a clear message. We are vulnerable. Who's to say that more of these…things won't start showing up? Sure, she may not willingly or knowingly bring more aliens to our door but her little waterworks display may attract some unwanted attention. We need to be ready! What paltry defenses this planet already has won't be enough and my organization barely has enough as is to operate efficiently. Please consider all that you have heard and seen when you…deliberate."

Despite the dim lighting and the fact that most of the people in the room where cloaked in shadow, Rikki could tell that the rest of her esteemed colleagues were in agreement. Though her colleagues seemed to be swayed, she was going to have to wait for the final verdict.

Once Rikki concluded with reporting on the events of the last few days, the status of various projects that her organization were running and other important agendas, the Chairman and the rest of the assembled council excused themselves to consider what they have heard and decide on the future of Rikki's organization and others like it, leaving the director alone to wait for their decision anxiously.

The discussion ended much quicker than Rikki anticipated.

The Chairman and the other council members returned to the room less than an hour later, each harsh faced as usual.

"Director Sanchez" The Chairman spoke in a crisp voice "In light of recent events and the discoveries made by your organization, ODIN, the council has decided, rightly so in my opinion, to continue funding future operations and have also decided on a budget increase and grant you additional resources to help combat this new threat. Whatever you need, just ask."

A small smile appeared on Rikki's face "Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I can assure you that your investment will not go to waste."

That much was true. Rikki had plans and with more resources at her disposal, the director was going to make sure that she was going to get ahead of this alien threat and win, no matter what.

End of Chapter

* * *

 **(a/n: So...what do you think? Took a bit longer than i thought but oh well. Next time: A field trip to outer space ends up with Steven, Pearl and Greg doesn't go as Rick plans.)**


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